Shattered Pieces
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: it was an accident. a horrible, terrible- life altering accident that was like a double edged blade. there were two victims in this. him and her. his body had been the weapon. and she- it's sheath. now he wants nothing more than to heal her. And by doing so, redeem himself. Clint/fem Ichigo.
1. Chapter 1

There was something wrong with him. Of course he didn't realize this at first.

Not until he had showered to clean the blood from his suit, his face, neck and hands and then redressed himself in his street clothes and left the tower. He'd only meant to go to a bar and drink some to take the edge off of his dark mood due to his latest job.

It...had hit far closer to home for him than any other job. So he was taking it far harder than the rest of his friends and teammates.

He was at least half a block from the bar that he'd decided to hit this evening when the first pulse hit him. Nearly making him stagger under the nearly overwhelming need that began to crawl through his body. He paused mid step for a moment and felt his body harden and ache. And his eyes widened a fraction in realization a moment before he began to _burn_.

He might have swore. Then again he might not have.

It was difficult to tell through the weird haze that was taking grip of his mind. Everything blurred together and became vague. And he didn't know what was going on to him or around him until he felt himself falling.

He didn't know what had happened between the haze muddling his thoughts and the world becoming vague. Truly he didn't. He didn't know how long he had been out. How much time had passed. Where he was. Hell, he couldn't even recall who he fucking was.

He was barely aware of the fact that he was no longer alone now. That he had grabbed someone- some random person off of the street and somehow managed to drag them into an abandoned apartment building and he now had said person pinned beneath his body, his mouth trailing hungrily along soft, tender skin.

He wasn't even aware of the fact that the person may or may not be female. Which was weird because usually he could tell the difference. He wasn't even aware of the fact that they might have been struggling to escape him.

All he knew was that his skin felt far, far too tight. That he was having difficulty breathing. And he hurt. Oh god, he _hurt_. He didn't even understand anymore why he hurt. He just knew that he hurt so badly that he was crying. Or perhaps he was sobbing for another reason entirely.

He wasn't sure.

The person underneath him was petite, softly curved, and smelled so, so very sweet. Almost as sweet as their skin tasted. If not for the fact that he was so out of it- he might have actually bitten down on the throat under his lips until he tore the flesh so that he could taste their blood and see if it was just as sweet on his tongue as the skin was.

Thank god for small favors. He supposed as he heard the soft sound of a gasp from the one beneath his body.

Some part of mind cried out, _female__! Female! _And felt shamed by the shocked sound. So much so that he somehow managed to tear his mouth away from the already reddening and sore flesh so that he could raise his head and look at his 'companion'. Wanting to see the face of the person that he was going to hurt.

And there was no avoiding that fact either.

As far gone as his mind felt- some rational and sane part of him was very much aware of the fact that he was going to hurt this person. Possibly irrevocably so.

And as such- it was his duty to look and know and be haunted by her face.

Oh god she was beautiful- and so, so heartbreakingly young. He calculated her to be between sixteen and possibly eighteen years of age. But probably no older than twenty at the most.

She was an exotic beauty with mixed blood. Chinese American? No. Japanese American. Her eyes were shaped slightly at the corners. The color was off though. Instead of her eyes being grey or brown or even black. They were a pretty robin's egg turquoise.

Her hair was an odd color too.

Not brown or black or even a blue-black or jet. It was a vivid strawberry blond with reddish-orange highlights to it that he was sure would be stunning in direct light.

Her features were delicate, and lovely. Definitely something that he would normally notice in a crowd. And her body... Generously curved breasts, well toned, and sinfully long legs that would make any man fantasize of wrapping them around his waist as he pounded himself into her warmth.

He wanted to say something. To speak of his regret and remorse that she would be hurt because of his lack of control at the moment. But all he could manage to say was, "Something is wrong." His tone was raspy, and almost breathless as he wrapped strong fingers around her neck in an almost threatening manner and began to run his free hand over her body.

She flinched, but otherwise didn't react.

He didn't know if that was good or bad. And as much as he wished that he could figure that out- he simply couldn't think clearly enough to get very far.

Once he was done running his hand over her body, committing it to his hazy memory. He then began to rip the buttons off of her shirt, wanting to expose her body as much as possible. The urge to bite, suck, and touch every inch of her until it was marked rising up unbidden in his mind.

He leaned back down to put his mouth against her skin again and muttered what he hoped was an apology for what was going to happen next... It was really all that he could give her before his reason left him completely devoid of conscience.


	2. Chapter 2

When he finally returned to his senses, it was three days later. He knew this because of the fact that he checked his phone and his watch- just to be as accurate about the loss of time as possible. After which, he had checked his companion. He hadn't needed to check her pulse because he knew that she still breathed.

He had heard her heartbeat underneath his ear when he finally come back to himself. It was steady and strong and in so many ways- soothing. He had however checked her for injuries.

She had some wicked looking bruises and hickeys on various parts of her body. Her throat, shoulders, breasts, collarbone, and even some on the inside of her blood stained thighs. But aside from the those and the dark bruises on her wrists, shoulders and hips- she seemed fine.

But it didn't make him stop worrying any. Nor did his newfound concern for her wellbeing make him feel any better about what he had obviously done.

In fact, it only made him feel that much worse. So much so that he had to quickly move away form her so that he could empty what little bit of...anything? that was in his stomach for several minutes before using a shaky hand to grab his cell and then stagger off to call someone.

He debated on whether or not to call Nat. Mostly because she would likely be upset with him about what had happened. He'd call Steve...but he didn't need him to glare at him in disappointment over something that he couldn't change. Plus the whole, raping an innocent conversation- he really didn't want to have that talk anytime soon.

He felt enough like shit right now, thank you very much.

He'd try Thor...but he was probably somewhere canoodling with his sweetheart, Jane.

Bucky would likely help him. Though he wasn't all that sure if the man would want to talk to him about what had happened or not. And then there was Tony.

If anyone understood the need for utter silence after doing something unbelievably dumb, it was him. But at the same time he was rather judgy. Though in this particular situation, he might understand. At least a little bit.

He might also be able to help the girl get medical care while keeping her identity anonymous for _all_ of their sakes. He might also be able to help Clint with damage control...so... Tony it was.

Taking a deep shuddering breath, he dialed Tony's personal number and then sat himself down on the floor next to the puddle of bile and blinked his burning, tear blurred eyes as he heard the other man's voice sound from the other end of the line.

"Barton?"

"Yeah." He said in a small voice. He heard Tony snap his fingers several times to get someone else's attention and then suddenly heard some of the others talking in a rush. Asking him where he was and if he was okay.

Clint took another shuddering breath and simply said, "I fucked up. I fucked up so bad." He sounded pitiful even to his own ears. And he felt as if he were just moments away from bawling his eyes out like a baby.

"Okay, okay, it's okay Hawkeye. Whatever it is- it's okay."

Clint wanted to be angry at Tony for lying to him. There was nothing alright about this situation. It didn't matter how it had come to be. Or if it was/wasn't his fault- there was nothing right about it and he wasn't the only _casualty_.

"Can you tell us if you're safe? Are you alone?"

Clint inhaled sharply, the gears in his mind turning as he realized that Tony knew. He fucking knew. Hell if he knew then the others likely did as well. Anger rose, swift and fierce and scorching in his veins as he asked in an eerily calm tone, "How did you know?" His anger somehow managing to steady his rattled nerves with steely resolve where his years of training as a master assassin couldn't.

"Bruce. Bruce started acting oddly right after the last mission and almost raped Natasha. He's been locked up in the Hulk cell for three days."

He clenched his teeth for a moment as he cast a glance towards the girl lying unconscious on the dirty floor several feet away and felt another,_ greater_ surge of anger coupled with anguish. "You knew and didn't even try to find me." It wasn't a question. He knew without any doubt at all that if they had really tried to find him, then this incident would have been over long before whatever had held him in it's grip would have run it's course.

_She might have been spared._ He thought in rage. Hell, if his friends had tried to actually find him, he might have been spared too. But that wasn't important at the moment. The girl was. She was all that mattered now.

He'd taken from her. Now it was his job to give her safety and comfort wherever and whenever he could so that she could heal- even if she hated him and wanted him dead for it.

"We knew, but..." Tony started to say when Clint cut him off in a cold tone.

"Track my phone. Bring a medical team with you. I have an injured girl with me that needs immediate care." And paused only for a moment when he heard someone inhale sharply and someone in the background made a choking sound and then hung up.

He sat there for barely ten minutes when Thor appeared inside of the building with a loud boom.

He looked...pissed. Very much so, and yet Clint was somewhat glad to see him since he doubted that the thunderer had known much of anything that had gone on since he had left to spend time with his Jane.

The blond glanced around the room before locking eyes on the girl, his expression going from pissed to sorrowful before then finding and locking on him. Clint didn't say anything as he walked towards him, finally noticing that the man was carrying a first aid kit, a bag of clean clothing- enough for two people- and some water bottles and protein bars.

Upon reaching him, Thor knelt down and set the stuff next to him and then took a moment to look him over. His blue eyes anxiously searching for signs of injury and distress.

There was plenty of distress, but no injuries. So Clint wasn't one hundred percent sure what the man was thinking as he moved away from him a little bit with a small sigh.

"They told me what happened," Thor said softly. His tone gentle for once instead of the normally jovial and loud booming sound that Clint and the others knew so well. "I was most displeased to hear that they did not search for you once they knew what was wrong."

"Yeah," Clint rasped as he began to sort through the bags and pull out various things. Water for one. Since neither he nor the girl had drank anything in three days. A couple of protein bars for himself since he very much doubted that she had the strength to eat anything at the moment. A large shirt that looked as if it belonged to...Thor? "D-Did you pack this stuff yourself?" He asked as he continued to sort through it.

Thor smiled at him. Obviously proud of the fact that he was able to help out even in this small capacity.

"Did I miss anything?"

"No, I think you managed to cover all of the immediate bases. Thanks." Clint said softly as he began to go through the first aid kit and automatically found an unused needle, and a bottle of morphine. Picking both items up he then started to tear open the wrapping to the needle and prepare it to be used.

And while he was certain the girl might not necessarily need a dose of morphine, he could at least give her a small one for lingering aches, pains and even if she had suffered tearing. Which from the looks of the blood on the inside of her thighs- might very well be a distinct possibility- then the morphine could make her more comfortable and maybe help her sleep a bit deeper which would make treating her and caring for her little bit easier on everyone.

Especially since the last thing that she needed was to wake up when the medical team got there, and tried to fight them. She'd only wind up damaging herself even more than she should if that happened. So...drugs it was then.

Once he was finished preparing the needle, he stuck the plastic part of the capped syringe between his teeth and grabbed a water bottle and a clean shirt to dress her in so that she would be covered and started to rise when Thor held out his cape.

Clint paused for a second to look at the man questioningly as Thor then said, "You can use it to wrap her in. It is a bit chilly here." He hesitated for a moment longer and then slowly took the red clothe from the thunderer and nodded his head in agreement.

It was a good thing that Thor had pointed that fact out to him, he was so out of it even now that he hadn't even noticed the temperature of the room. Of course given the fact that it was fall, and the temperature tended to drop significantly- it was a wonder neither he nor the girl had gotten pneumonia or something already.

Moving quickly over to where the girl lay, he slowly dropped to his knees beside her. And set everything down for a moment and then hesitantly reached out and started to slip an arm around her slender shoulders so that he could lift her up enough to strip her out of her dirty and torn shirt when her eyes suddenly flew open and he yelped and fell back on his ass.

"Where?" She asked in a hoarse voice that sounded all kinds of bad to him. Probably because her throat was raw from screaming or something.

"Oh- uh...Thor, where are-"

"The abandoned apartment building on thirty eight street." Thor quickly replied as Clint nodded his head and pointed to the blond who stayed perfectly still where he was and refused to even glance in their direction.

"What he said."

"How long?"

"Three days." Clint answered automatically and then thinned his lips a little bit as she gave a tired nod and then let her eyes drift closed again.

"Wait!" He said after a moment or so. The sound of his voice sounded a lot like a shout in the room that they were in. It...echoed loudly, eliciting a jerky-jump from the girl as her eyes flew open again while Clint grabbed the bottle of water and quickly tore the top off. "I need you to drink some of this. It's been three days since you've eaten, drank or slept. You need the water."

She eyed him and the water oddly for a moment before then slowly and with some difficulty rolling over onto her side and pushing herself up, despite the fact that he could have lifted her up easily. He had wanted to protest the slight movements because he could see how much it pained her, but she was up before he could think of anything to say.

Once she was up, he held the water up to her lips and palmed the back of her head so that she could lean back if she needed to without worrying about falling over and let her drink a little bit at a time to see if she could handle it. Once he was sure that she wasn't going to throw it up, he gave her free reign to drink as much as she could.

She drank more than half of the bottle before finally pushing at his hand to indicate that she'd had enough. He removed the bottle from her mouth and set it aside and then picked up the clean shirt and the needle and held them up for her to see.

"My friend brought clean clothing and a first aid kit. Which do you want first? Something to cover yourself with? Or the meds?"

She just looked between the two and then back to him and rasped out, "Trick question." He opened his mouth to tell her that it wasn't a trick question but Thor's voice cut though his thoughts and stopped him as he heard the man say.

"The lady is right friend Clint. Tis a trick question."

Gritting his teeth, he growled out, "Thank you Thor for pointing that out."

"Tis why I am here," Thor called out kindly from his spot. If Clint had had a brick on hand, he would have thrown it at the man's head when he heard him suggest, "Just give the lady the medicine."

"Yeah...okay..." Clint said almost stupidly as he looked back at the girl. "So medicine first then?"

She just blinked at him as he muttered under his breath about helpful Norse gods and unhelpful females and then uncapped the needle and gently grasped one of her wrists in his hand- pausing for a second when he saw her flinch at the contact and had to stop himself from letting her go and moving away.

"Sorry. I am... I'm just really-" He stammered out as he found the vein that he needed and sank the needle into her skin as she rasped out softly.

"I know."

She closed her eyes again and seemed to drift off again. Leaving him to strip her dirty and torn clothing form her body and redress her and wrap her securely in Thor's cape before anyone else arrived.


	3. Chapter 3

The moment that the medics and the others arrived, Clint wasted no time in carefully slipping his arms around the girl and lifting her into his arms and swiftly leaving the building with Thor closely following behind him. Once outside they were met by the medics and their frantic friends.

"Clint!" Nat called out as she came running up to him. She didn't look so good. In fact, the normally beautiful woman looked absolutely horrible. But he supposed that that was what happened when the Hulk tried to 'mount up'.

She looked exhausted. Her clothing was rumpled and her face was pale. She had one of her arms in a sling, and a cast around her hand and wrist. And she was _limping_. Which was never a good sign as far as she was concerned. And despite how pissed he was about how things had gone down- he couldn't find it in himself to be pissed at her when she had nearly been a victim of whatever had caused him to lose all sense of himself as well.

"Clint are you alright?" She asked as soon as she reached him. She didn't dare to step between him and the medical team, not while he was carrying an injured person in his arms. But she couldn't stop herself from glancing over at the person that he carried and had to bite her lower lip to stifle a gasp of shock as he finally replied curtly.

"I'll live." Which was a great more than he could say about Tony once he got his damned hands on him. He planned to rip him a new asshole and then tear it apart too.

"I-Is she- I mean- D-Did-" She was trying to ask what he would likely be asked by everyone else. If he had raped the girl. He sighed, feeling the center of his chest squeeze painfully as he hissed.

"Yes. I did. And no, she _isn't_ fine."

She fell silent and merely nodded her head in understanding. He didn't want to talk about it since this experience was not only traumatizing for the girl but himself as well. The next person to come up to him was Bucky, and the man didn't say anything at all.

He just got a good look of Clint and the girl and then clenched his teeth and looked away, anger and shame warring within him.

_Good._ Clint thought grimly as he walked past him and straight over to the medics who were waiting for him. He carefully deposited the girl on the gurney that they had brought along with them and then took a small step back as they began to check her vitals and such.

Some of them swarmed around him to check him out, but he impatiently waved them off as the medics loaded the girl into the van that they had brought. Clint waited until they were done loading her into the vehicle before then hopping into the back to ride with her.

If anyone was going to say anything about him being present on the ride back to the tower- they never bothered. They must have noticed that his body language practically screamed, _barely leashed violence_. Because everyone wisely kept their mouths shut.

Which was good since he didn't have much of a tolerance for their foolishness at the moment.

He was already thinking of what needed to be done.

The girl- she would need to be looked into. Well, her background anyways. Not because he cared overly much if she was a criminal or anything. People often did things in their lives that they weren't proud of. Especially teenagers.

No, what he cared about at the moment was whether or not she had a family that could be her support if she needed it. And then there was the question of her mental health.

That was a much know too. Mostly because he would feel especially terrible if he sent her home and she later hung herself or something. The guilt from such an incident would probably kill him.

To be honest, he didn't know what was going to happen next. All he knew so far was that he had taken from her and though he had no way to make things right- he had to at least stay close to her and protect her.

He didn't understand it or how to explain it. All that he knew was that he had to.

* * *

Clint followed closely behind the meds as they moved through the tower's hallways towards the infirmary. His mind was oddly blank as he kept pace close to the gurney. So far the girl had only managed to wake once. And that was shortly after they had reached the tower when one of the medics had accidentally dropped the foot of the make shift bed, startling her awake.

Clint had damned near had a conniption fit when she had screamed.

However instead of taking the guy that had startled her to task like he had wanted, he instead had reached over and tried to calm her by forcing her to look at him so that he could speak to her in a low soothing tone until she had closed her eyes and drifted off again.

Once she was out again, Clint had then turned his attention to butterfingers and growled at him _not_ to fucking do it again. The guy had blanched and stammered out an apology and so far hadn't done anything else stupid.

So that went a long way towards making him a bit happier.

However that feeling fled the moment that they reached the infirmary and he saw that Tony and Steve were both waiting for them. Clenching his hands into tight fists, Clint barely spared either man a glance. He had other things on his mind than the two idiots.

He continued walking behind the medical team until one of them turned and told him that he couldn't follow them any further. Causing him to snort and look away form the person that had just spoken.

Did they honestly think that telling him that he couldn't follow any further would stop him? He wondered idly as Steve moved up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

Normally the action would be comforting. But today- it was nothing but maddening.

Shrugging the man's hand off of him, he turned his head to glare at him for a moment. Steve looked like he wanted to apologize. But he wasn't the person that he should be apologizing too. The girl was.

So he could take his damned apology and good will and stuff them both up his ass.

"Clint," It was the sound of Tony's voice that really set him off. "I have everything in place. The girl will get the absolute best care that money can provide. She'll be treated and stay for a few days under close observation. After that I can have her sign a full disclosure agreement, and she can be on her way- oomph!" Clint turned on the man and grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him up against the closest wall, totally ignoring Steve's shout of alarm as he _snarled_ in Tony's face.

"A disclosure agrrement! Are you goddamn insane? I raped her Tony! I'm supposed to be one of the good guys and I fucking brutalized her! Forget the disclosure agreement- she gets the best medical care. Her family and friends are called and let know that she isn't dead in a ditch somewhere- because that's _exactly_ what could have happened to her!"

He shook Tony a little bit. "She stays until she's able to walk out of here on her own legs. She will be _comfortable_ and _protected_\- because she's suffered at my hands! And hey, while we're talking about this- how about you hook her up with the best damned OBGYN or abortion clinic in the country- cause there's a damned good chance that I fucking knocked her up!" He shook Tony again and then dropped him and watched as the man sunk to the floor coughing and blinking dazed eyes at him.

"I'm not trying to be insulting Barton, but I have to protect the team-" Tony finally wheezed out.

"_Fuck the team_," Clint snarled at the man angrily. "The team isn't my main concern at the moment. That girl- how this is going to affect her, how she's going to pick up the pieces of her life- _that_ is my concern. I don't have time for you and you're shit."

Tony blinked a few more times and looked torn between shooting off his mouth and not knowing what to do. Clint could at least partially understand where the man was coming from. Truly he could. The world needed the Avengers. and one wrong move from any of them outside of the law could bring their group and everything good that it stood for, crumbling down around them.

But what Tony had yet to understand was that the moment that you turned your back on the innocent and wrote them off as acceptable losses- was the moment that you stopped being a hero, and became part of the problem.


	4. Chapter 4

Ichigo returned to consciousness with a full body spasm and a gasp of pain.

She didn't know where she was. Though from the looks of things, she must be in a hospital or something. She could smell disinfectant and feel the IV attached to her hand pull at her skin painfully underneath the tape. Grimacing, she lay there for several moments and just...breathed.

God- she had never thought the day would come when she would regret the simple action so damned much. But she did. Slowly lowering herself back down onto the bed so that she was laying down again, she blinked her sleep bleary eyes as she tried hard to recall what had happened to her.

She remembered Orihime dying.

Being blamed for the fact that she lived while her friend had died. She recalled leaving home and staying gone and then when she had finally decided to return...she had been grabbed and dragged into a dark alley by a man. She closed her eyes for a moment and focused on the memory.

Tall, muscular, blond hair that was long in the front and short in the back, icy blue eyes. He'd had a chiseled jaw, strong, stubborn, and handsome features.

There had been something wrong with him.

She'd been able to tell the moment that he slammed her against the hard brick of the buildings in the alleyway. His eyes had been feverishly bright. And he'd been crying and muttering something about 'hurting'.

She'd wanted to help him, but he hadn't responded to any of her questions. He'd simply tossed her over his shoulder and run with her. It wasn't until he had dropped her and fallen on top of her and started to attack her neck with his lips and mouth that- that she had realized just what was _wrong_.

She vaguely recalled him apologizing and saying that something was wrong, so some part of him had known and been aware through the haze of delirium. And after that...

_Oh_. She thought dully as she tried to shift herself again and let out a soft hiss when the area between her legs began to throb and ache strangely. So she had actually been...

Was it weird that she didn't want to say the word, raped? It seemed wrong. Unfair even, given the fact that the man had had something wrong with him. And it wasn't as if she had put up much of a fight anyways. I mean, she could have- but then there was the possibility that he might have simply grabbed someone else. So she'd just...laid there and let the guy do what he wanted with her.

She parted her lips to say something to herself, but her throat felt raw and sore. And the cool-ish air that she was currently breathing sent her into a coughing fit that almost had her in tears as the door to her room opened and she vaguely heard the sounds of heavy, yet oh so very quiet footsteps.

She felt the person's hands gently taking her by the shoulders before she saw anything of him entering her line of vision. "Easy sweetheart." She heard his voice say to her as he gently rubbed her back a little bit as she finally managed to stop coughing enough to lift her head and look at him. Her eyes widening a little bit as she got a good look at who had come to help her.

It was _him_. The guy that had- taken her.

He looked tired. But he had obviously also showered, shaved, and cleaned himself up.

And yeah, she was just a little bit _alarmed_ by his presence. Not so much so that she'd scream or try to make a run for it. To be perfectly honest, she wasn't all that sure that she wouldn't trip over her own feet and brain herself if she did try running.

But she felt the smallest sliver of alarm rise up in her for just a few moments or so before he held up an unopened bottle of water and then pushed it into one of her hands.

"Here. You need to try drinking some of this."

She wrapped her fingers around the bottle and nodded her head and fumbled for a moment to take the lid off because her hands were shaking slightly. She had just gotten the lid off and was about to drink some of the liquid when she heard him softly say. "I'm sorry."

Frowning Ichigo at his words, she accidentally missed her mouth with the bottle and wound up dousing herself and her...were they even clothes? Or was she wearing a hospital gown?

He stared at her for a moment, wide eyed as she tried to wipe the water away from her chin and throat before turning her attention lower to her shirt.

The flimsy fabric of her...clothing was soaked a little bit around her breasts, making the cloth cold and uncomfortably clingy against her chest.

He swore softly and left her side for a moment to grab something propped up against the wall over by a chair and then returned and held it out to her. She blinked and looked at the item and blinked again upon the realization that it was a bag full of clothing. Shirts, pants, socks, underwear- _Holy shit_ someone had gotten her panties?!

She set the bottle of water on the bedside table and slowly took the bag and took a few moments to look through it a little bit more.

There were bras in the bag too. Several of them that matched the panties. Holy shit someone had gotten her matching sets?! She wondered dumbfounded as she looked some more.

There were slippers, and a pair of slip on rubber soled shoes too. Some feminine hygiene products, a toothbrush- She felt tears well up for a moment and had to look away in the hopes that he couldn't see just how overwhelmed she was by the mere fact that someone had gotten her stuff to clean herself with.

Honestly, what kind of deranged lunatic cried because they were given soap and a toothbrush?

He stood there silently and simply watched her. Taking note in the odd way that her breathing hitched for a moment before realizing that she was crying. His heart ached at the knowledge that he'd done this to her as she tried to gather herself together after a moment or so before then holding the bag up and pointing to it.

Not really knowing what she wanted, he hesitated for a moment before simply saying, "M-My friend Natasha got those for you. She thought that you might appreciate them."

She held the bag up a little bit higher and pointed to it again and he blinked as he heard the sound of Nat's sigh over by the doorway before the woman said. "She wanted to know where the bathroom is. I think she wants to clean herself up."

"O-Oh," He said stupidly before pointing across the room. "If you'll wait a second I'll take you're IV out-" He started to say and stopped with the girl all but tore the tape and needle out of her hand and then threw the covers back and _ran. _

The bathroom door opened and then slammed shut after she had slipped inside. The loud sound causing him to cringe a little bit as Nat walked over to him and put a hand on his arm comfortingly.

"It's alright, Clint. I think she just wanted to clear up some. She has been sleeping for several days now, so it's normal."

"I know. I just..."

"Worry?"

"How can I not? For god's sake she just tried to hack up a lung." He said as he looked at the red head. The girl had been asleep for _days._ And in that time, Clint hadn't moved from the little nest that he'd made outside of her room unless he had thought that he heard her stirring, or needed a bathroom break.

He hadn't even left it to go and eat anything. He'd had Thor bring him stuff so that he wouldn't get sick from missing meals while he had waited for her to awaken.

A lot had happened since he had returned to the tower.

One of those things was that Bruce had finally returned to normal and had been...distraught by what he had learned happened between him and Nat. So much so that he had briefly stopped by to see Clint and check up on the girl and apologize for his part in this shitty fiasco- which wasn't his fault- before he had gone utterly AWOL.

Honestly, the man was a fucking ghost. He had disappeared from the tower _and_ New York to go...wherever, to collect himself. Everyone had been freaking out.

Tony and Steve were especially freaking out.

They had been adamant on going after him and returning him to the tower. It was only after Nat snapped at the idiots and told them to leave him the fuck alone that things had settled down a bit again.

Not long after Bruce's disappearing act, Tony had come to see Clint and apologize too.

The man wasn't going to lie, he was still pissed about what had happened. And he still felt a great deal betrayed by his friends, but at least now he sort of understood a little bit better just how he wound up with the shitty end of things. It hadn't been because they hadn't cared.

It was because they had been trying so desperately to secure the Hulk and keep him from going on a rampage. By the time they had figured out what had set the big guy off, they had checked to see if he had called them for help and when he hadn't, they had assumed that he was fine.

That maybe he had gone to his apartment in the city or had picked up a little bit of female company and simply hadn't wanted to bother him since they had known that the last mission had upset him and he needed some time.

Hindsight was a real bitch sometimes. Even he _knew_ that. Hindsight had failed them all in this instance. And this particular incident fell under the; damned if you do, and damned if you don't category.

Tony had made the call to secure the Hulk knowing that letting him out of the tower would mean chaos and catastrophic losses. He hadn't intentionally forgotten about Clint or even not been concerned about him. He had...merely decided that he was the lesser of two very different and distinct evils.

Clint didn't have to like it, but he could damn well understand where the man was coming from.

* * *

The moment that the bathroom door slammed shut behind her, Ichigo's legs finally gave out and she sank to the floor and just sat there for several minutes looking around. There was a full bath and shower in the spacious room, both of which were fully stocked with multiple shampoos and conditioners and scented body washes...

Someone had obviously gone to a lot of trouble to try and appeal to her hygienic needs. Not that she totally minded at all. She could read the labels on everything where she sat and was already planning to use each and every one of the items to get squeaky clean.

She didn't bother standing again since there was no real guarantee that she'd be able to stand for long anyways. So instead she crawled over to the bathtub and reached over and turned on the tap and waited patiently for the water to warm before she plugged up the drain and then started stripping herself out of her...hospital gown?

Pulling the incredibly thin and damned near threadbare piece over her head, she then dug out a change of clothes- foregoing the need for a bra at the moment and just focused on something that she could be comfortable in.

Once she was done laying those items out, she pulled out the tooth brush and found some toothpaste and mouth wash and quickly tore the wrappers open and started to use them.

She must have brushed her teeth five times before her gums started to bleed a little bit from the rough abuse she was giving them. After which she all but drank the damned mouth wash because she didn't feel that her mouth and teeth were _anywhere_ near clean enough.

Hell, she probably would have attempted to eat the soap in the shower if not for the fact that she needed it to wash herself.

She felt all kinds of dirty and gross and- and... just plain _wrong_.

Once the water was high enough in the tub, she wasted no time in picking herself up just enough to climb into the tub and dunk herself underneath the warm water so that she would be nice and soaked for her cleaning.

It took a little bit of doing to pull or push herself back upright again. Not that she cared that much one way or another. It wasn't as if she had never died before. So she didn't fear death like other people tended to. If it came, it came.

No muss, no fuss; no big fucking deal.

Reaching out and grabbing one of the shampoo bottles and looked at it for a moment. This one was a specialty shampoo. Specially made, expensive- and it was scented like magnolias. Ichigo scrunched her nose up a little bit and then grabbed two others and looked at them.

Geez, they were all specialty items.

The second of which was honeysuckle and orange blossom. And the third was peony scented. All of them were nice and appealed to her as someone of the female persuasion.

And since she couldn't really figure out which one she wanted to use more...she wound up mixing some of each in her hands and lathering her hair from roots to tips and used whatever was left over to scrub her face, neck, shoulders, arms and anything else that she could reach without excessively needing to move.

* * *

"She's been in there for a long time." Clint said more to himself than to Nat, his pacing and other bodily movements seeming to grow more and more worried and anxious as the moments ticked by. Causing the woman to roll her eyes at him.

"She's probably soaking." He looked at her oddly as she then tacked on, "She was a virgin when you took her, Clint. Soaking may help her with the soreness."

He blinked and then looked down at his feet feeling as if he'd just gotten scolded by his momma. Honestly he couldn't have felt this much ashamed if his actual mother had dug herself out of her grave and come straight to the tower to smack him cross-eyed for what he'd done to the girl.

He just felt horrible. Truly he did.

He'd dry heaved repeatedly since the day of his return to the tower. Especially after learning that the girl had been untouched before he had... And then there was the fact that he'd torn her. One of the medics had nearly had to stitch some of the tearing up.

And some of the other places had been infected from not being cleaned or taken care of.

To say that he'd lost his shit would be a gross understatement. He'd been deathly afraid that he may have unwittingly caused the girl's death because of the infection mentioned. He was an assassin for fuck's sake! He knew what infected wounds could do to a person.

He'd seen the death and devastation first hand in fellow friends and comrades.

He'd been so angry and distraught that he'd nearly broken Steve's jaw when the man had tried to stop him from entering the infirmary to sit with the girl. After all if he had accidentally cause her death, then it was only right that he sit with her and watch everything until the end and commit everything that he could about her to memory.

He had too.

Needless to say, Steve had been walking around on eggshells around him ever since.

Finally lifting his head, he looked back at Nat and began to chew his bottom lip for a few moments before finally saying, "I'm going to check on her." And then turned and walked over to the bathroom as Nat said warningly,

"She'll likely try and drown you if you peek at her."

Not that it mattered any. If she wanted to drown him then she had that right. But in the meantime, he was worried that she might have passed out or something and gripped the knob tightly in his hand and twisted until he heard the door click open.

She hadn't bothered to lock the door. Was his first thought as he gently pushed the door open a sliver and peeked through the small slit. Figuring that it should be enough to check on her without totally impeding on her bath.

He nearly sighed in relief when he found her just sitting there seeming to be splashing around in the soapy water almost like a little kid.

Feeling his lips quirk up a little bit at her behavior, he gently shut the door and then walked back over to where Nat was sitting and simply leaned against the wall and waited for the girl to finish in the bathroom and return. He'd give her another ten minutes to finish cleaning herself. And then he would be going in after her.


	5. Chapter 5

"Has Tony figured out anything about her yet?" Clint asked, deciding to kill some time by seeing if Tony had managed to get any info on the girl since she had been staying at the tower. Nat nodded her head and pulled out her Stark phone and pulled up the information for him.

"Yes. Facial recognition software got a hit early this morning," She said as she held the phone up so that he wouldn't have to lean over her shoulder like he usually did. It irked her when he did that. So this was really the easiest way to give him what he wanted. "Name, age, birthdate, the names of her parents and siblings- everything is there. Right down to her favorite color and food as well as her hobbies. Have fun reading." Nat said as she slowly got up out of her chair and began to leave before pausing to say. "And I want my phone back later." Before slipping out of the room and leaving him to read over what had been found.

The girl- he really needed to stop calling her that in his head- was named Ichigo Kurosaki. She was seventeen and wouldn't be eighteen in another six months.

He sighed softly in relief.

At least she was legal, even if it was only just so. It gave him one less thing to worry about if she decided to go to the cops once she left. He was okay with going to prison on rape charges. He was even at peace with it if that was what she absolutely wanted. But he didn't exactly like the idea of going to prison on charges of raping a _child_.

Still her age nagged at him a little bit. Probably because he was twenty eight.

Still... A kid her age should be safe and sound at home with her family.

So why was it that no one had seemed to be looking for her? Did she run away? Did she disappear often? What if she had_ no one_ to care or worry about her at all? He chewed his lower lip as he scanned further down the page and nearly blanched at what he saw.

_Oh god. _

That...explained more than a few reasons why the local boys in blue weren't kicking down the tower doors just yet.

Ichigo was not only an orphan according to what he was seeing, but she also had a bad tendency to disappear into thin air without any sort of a warning and return banged up, bruised up and half dead.

Such occurrences have been happening off and on for weeks, sometimes even months at a time since she had been fourteen. No one ever filed a missing person's report. No one really ever did _anything_ to indicate any level of worry or concern for her wellbeing or her life.

For all intents and purposes, she seemed to be pretty much alone in the world. She had been since long _before_ her parents had died.

So she was probably used to doing things as she deemed so.

_Not anymore she isn't_. He thought darkly as he kept reading. The more he read, the more he wanted to break something. Or more preferably,_ someone_. It became more and more glaringly obvious that someone somewhere had hurt her many, many times. Hell from what he was seeing included among the information in her file, she had been tortured by someone on several different occasions. And was very likely_ still_ being hurt by them.

He couldn't seem to understand _why_ no one who claimed to care for her- her family, her friends, her fucking classmates- would step in and put a stop to it. Were they all insane? Or was the person hurting her simply someone that they were very afraid of?

He filed the information away in the back of his mind under 'questions for later', and moved on before he decided to throw Nat's phone against the wall and break it in a fit of _incandescent rage_. He scanned some other bits and pieces of the information that Tony had found on her.

Her grades had been outstanding in school. So much so that she had managed in-between disappearances and her time spent in the hospital- to graduate early. She had a job as a ghost writer and writing on blogs and such.

The pay was good. Obscenely good from the looks of things. And she got to make her own hours and work as much or as little as she wanted as long as she met her deadlines.

She also loved working with her hands knitting, sewing, doing embroidery. She designed and made things. And- he was surprised to even see- that she had also done a few modeling jobs for a pro musician. A guy by the name of Yasutora Sado. Whom was also a person that she had gone to school with and was best friends with.

He snorted to himself. _Some best friend._ He couldn't even be bothered to drop his work for a few minutes to pick up a damned phone, and call her to see if she was even okay.

Clicking on one of the pictures, he studied it for a few seconds.

Whoever the photographer had been, had done good. Ichigo looked otherworldly in the photos. So much so that he quickly sent each of the pics to his personal email before he heard the bathroom door finally open and quickly closed the file and locked the phone and then stuffed it in his pack pants pocket as Ichigo finally rejoined him.

She looked better. Much, much better.

She was wearing one of the PJ sets that Nat had gotten for her. The royal blue satin made her eyes and hair _pop_ fetchingly. And that was another things that he noticed right off of the bat- her hair. The once near waist length strands had been cut shorter. Now the silken locks fell just a little bit past the middle of her back and it had been layered so that it fell in soft feathery wisps that curled here and there at the tips.

She looked...good. Really good.

And if not for the circumstances that had more or less brought them together- he would be on his knees right now begging for a date. But as it was, he couldn't. It would be wrong of him. And besides, they needed to talk some thing's over anyways.

He wanted to know what she wanted to do now so that he could prepare himself.

He waited until she had walked back to the bed and seated herself on it before finally speaking. "D-do you mind if we talked a-about- ya know?" He cringed a little bit at the last words. Ya know?

The incident that had possibly ruined her life had been reduced to the words, ya know?

_God what the hell was wrong with me?_ He wondered thinking that if he was going to try and man up and speak of it, that he should at least call it what it really was.

She nodded her head after several moments and then reached up to tap her throat. Indicating that she wasn't sure how to talk with him when it was hurting and sore. Speaking more would only make it hurt worse. Even he knew that. He thought for a moment and then pulled his cell out- and made sure that it really was his cell before he fixed it so that she could type out her responses to him and then handed it to her.

"You can use that if you want," He said gently as she took it from him with a small thin lipped smile before he suddenly asked, "Are you hungry? I mean you must be, you haven't eaten in days. What I meant is- do you want anything?"

She typed out, **Food would be nice**. And then showed the message to him as he nodded his head and started to ask her if there was anything specific that she wanted as she typed out. **I'm not picky.**

"Alright, I'll ask someone to bring you something. How about...a pizza?" She scrunched up her nose, so he supposed that pizza was out and then tried again. "Or I could see if you can have a burger. Maybe some onion rings or cheese sticks?"

She typed out, **Burger- cheese, tomato, extra pickles and onions. Large cheese sticks. Sweet tea?** She showed him the message and he smiled a little bit.

"Alright. I can swing that. Do you want anything else?"

**Triple the order. **

"O-Okay." He said awkwardly as he pulled Nat's phone back out and used it to place the order for her and then called someone to pick it up. Bucky volunteered to go and get it and bring it back for her. Apparently the man had been sulking over the whole incident and had been feeling badly for her.

Clint understood this, so he would allow him to do this small things for her.

** Thank you. **

"Don't mention it sweetheart." He said once he was done and had put the phone away again and then sat down in Nat's former seat and took a deep breath and tried to figure out where to start but she beat him to it.

**My name is Ichigo. Does that help any? **

"I'm Clint. And yeah. Yeah it sort of does," He replied carefully before then deciding to start off with explaining why they had found themselves in this situation. "Okay, so- I used to work as an agent of Shield. However I stopped working for them so much after I was scouted as an Avenger."

She typed out,** ?**

And he blinked at her message for a moment before trying to figure out how to explain his work as an Avenger. Before trying a different approach. "A secret agent sweetheart. I used to be a secret agent."

**Like a spy?**

"No. My friend- the pretty redhead from before. She's a spy."

**Okay. **

"Anyways, I'm an Avenger-" All he got was another, question mark from her. Causing him to ask, "Have you never heard of us? We're a government sanctioned group who deal with global threats."

Another question mark had him sighing before she typed out, **If you take care of global threats- then where were you before? During Aizen's attempt to- **

"Who's Aizen?" He asked curiously, his mind latching onto the name as he read and re read her message before she pull his phone back towards her and quickly typed out.

**Never mind then.**

"No- sweetheart," He said as he reached out to keep her from typing anymore for a moment and then asked again, "Who's Aizen?" He really wanted to know since she hinted that he was someone that the Avenger's should have taken notice of.

She flailed for a moment in an effort to free her hands up again and then scowled at him once she managed to escape his grip and typed out. **Doesn't matter. He's been neutralized. **

The gears in his head turned as he muttered, "Uh-huh. Okay- So moving on then?"

**Sure.**

"Anyways I was on a mission with my team-"


	6. Chapter 6

Ichigo took the story of what had led them to their situation with surprising grace and understanding. Far more than he'd had when he had found out. He found it strange that she didn't even seem phased by his explanation. If anything she seemed to be oddly at peace with it all.

She should be pissed. Like, Hulk sort of pissed and raining fire and brimstone down on his and everyone else's heads.

He would have understood her better if she had been. But she wasn't. And the absence of her anger and hatred and rage _unnerved_ him greatly_. Why wasn't she bothered by this?_ He wondered nervously as he asked, "Did you understand everything that I just said?"

If she had some sort of learning disability then it would make sense that she might not be angry as she should be. Because she might not have understood. Which would be just beyond shitty. But still, it would make sense.

She blinked at him and slowly typed out, **Yes. I understand. You were on a mission and accidentally got dosed by an experimental, slow acting drug that temporarily stole your reason and inhibitions...and somehow also made you super horny. You did not choose to...attack me? You were in pain and didn't understand what you were doing. It's fine. _I get it._**

He read the message several times before saying uncomfortably. "That...isn't what I said."

**I'm reading between the lines. The point of the matter is that there were two victims in this. You and me. It's pointless to get pissed about it since it would change nothing. Besides, from what you said before- you're work is important. So having me throw a fit and put you behind bars would impede your job and possibly cause not only your teammates harm, but innocent bystander's too. **

"So?"

**I can't do that to you or anyone else. It would be wrong and selfish. I don't like the idea. **

He read the message and tried desperately not to feel relieved and strangely disappointed too. He had no right to feel relieved. He'd hurt her like a common street thug. He deserved to have his ass in a sling from now till doomsday. Maybe even till after doomsday.

But oddly, and sadly enough...he did.

And he _loathed_ himself all the more for it. I mean, just how much of an utter bastard could he be? He hurt her! He should suffer!

Reaching out he took the phone from her hands and stood up and moved in close to her and framed her face in his hands and hissed out harshly, "_Fuck the world_. Fuck everything. Dammit you deserve _justice!_ What happened to you was cruel! It doesn't matter if it was intentional or not. Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

"Do you want me to go to jail? I'll write out my confession here and now and call them myself. Do you want me to die? You should for what I did to you, you know. Tell me how you want me dead- and I'll make it happen. You won't even have to touch me." His voice deepened to a growl as he studied her face as he felt a tremor go through her as he snapped at her.

"For fuck's sake- you were even ovulating when I grabbed you! For all either of us know now you may be pregnant. Now tell me what you want me to do to even make this a little bit right!"

His icy blue eyes searched her face for anything. Any hint of anger or pain that he could use to get her to tell him what he needed to do to make things right for her, and only found a vague hint of alarm upon mentioning the possibility of a child. But as briefly as he saw it, it was gone. Replaced by an strange look of wonder and longing as she brought her hands up to touch her flat stomach.

Sighing in frustration he released her and stepped back to sit back down in his seat when the two of them heard a throat clearing across the room. Both of them looked over to see Bucky standing there with her bag of food and her tea in hand, his expression a weird combination of questioning, interested, and bemused.

"Hey, sorry for the interruption- but someone here asked for food right."

Ichigo's hand automatically shot up. Bucky smiled at her. Despite the circumstances, she was weirdly adorable. Clint could do much worse as far as dames went. He thought to himself as he entered the room and walked over to give her her stuff.

He moved slowly, not to be aggravating or anything but because she had recently gone though an traumatizing ordeal and he didn't want to startle or scare her. He'd already heard what Clint had done to the medic that had accidentally dropped the end of her gurney the day that she had been brought in.

The man had almost literally pissed himself in fear of the archer's wrath for scaring her. Rumor around the tower had it that the man resigned and left the tower to get another job somewhere safer.

Once he was close enough, she reached out to take the drink first and then set it aside on the small bedside table where it wouldn't spill before then taking the bag of food from him and then grabbing what looked like a cell form the bed and typed out, **Thank you sir. **

Bucky read the brief message and smiled awkwardly at her wondering _why_ she wasn't staring at his metal arm or freaking out on them. People always did those things when he was around.

Partially cause his metal arm was an interesting sort of eyesore. And partially because there wasn't anyone that didn't know the face of the infamous former Winter's Soldier.

"You're welcome doll." He muttered kindly as he cast a weirded out look at Clint.

The archer merely sat in his chair and stared at him with a bored expression as Bucky felt a small tap on his metal hand and turned back to the girl. She held up a couple of cheese sticks and onion rings wrapped in a napkin and waited patiently for him to do something.

"Uh...no, no doll, those are yours-" Bucky said as he gently started to push her offered food away, but stopped when a sad look flickered across her pretty face and quickly found himself taking the small treat from her with an defeated slump of his shoulders and a sigh. Geeze it was like getting the puppy dog eyes from Steve way, way back in the day when he'd been tiny and fragile.

She really was a sweet kid. He thought as she started to dig into her meal happily after giving Clint some cheese sticks and onion rings too. Glancing over at the archer again, he found him slowly munching on his offered food with a thoughtful look on his face.

Moving over to him, Bucky gracefully dropped to the floor to sit cross legged and asked, "Everything okay Barton?"

Clint blinked and then glanced at him and sighed before stuffing what was left of his pilfered food in his mouth and saying, "Not really." Around it. Bucky scrunched up his nose a little bit in disgust.

_Ew_, Clint had the manners of an utter savage sometimes. Was it weird that Bucky missed the days when it was acceptable to smack someone in the back of the head when they didn't use their manners? Looking away from the man, he noted absently that at least the kid had manners.

She was a tidy little eater, and was very careful not to waste anything nor get crumbs on the bed.

He was pulled out of his thoughts about the girl being a neat eater when Clint grabbed the phone that she had been using to talk from the bed and then dropped it into his lap and signed for him to read. Bucky picked it up and began to scroll their the messages on it, his face carefully schooled so that he wouldn't reveal his thoughts.

The girl had a good head on her shoulders. And seemed to be a fair judge of character from what he could tell. She thought more with her head than her heart and was while that- in some cases could be a good thing- it worked against her in this situation.

No wonder Clint looked so frustrated.

He wanted to make things right for her and she was practically telling him that it was fine to get away with what he'd done. It wasn't right though.

And in this instance, she seemed not only selfless but more than a little bit self destructive. Maybe even depressed? Was she mentally ill maybe? He wondered idly as he typed out, **What's your next game plan?** And then handed the phone off to Clint.

The archer looked at it for a moment and then huffed as he typed out a response.

**No clue. I'm at a stand still. Any ideas?**

He handed Bucky back the phone and let him type out his response before then taking it again and reading, **Make her an Avenger like us? **Clint peeled his lips back form his teeth and silently snarled at the man as he absently typed out.

**Like hell I will. I want her safe! **

Bucky read the message and then thinned his lips a little bit and then took the phone away from him and typed out, **Bodyguard duty?**

Clint seemed to mull his suggestion over for a moment and then nodded curtly. Bucky nodded his head and quickly typed out, **Cool. I'll be your wing man Hawk. **

Clint merely nodded his head again and then sat back to wait until Ichigo was finished with her food so that they could resume their talk.


	7. Chapter 7

Since Ichigo wouldn't tell him what he needed to do to make things right for her, Clint decided to try yet another tactic. Taking the feelings of wonder and longing that he'd seen in her face before when he'd mentioned the possibility of a child- he asked her what she would do if there was indeed was one.

I mean, she wasn't even eighteen yet. And though she was a fairly diligent worker and was financially secure for the moment. She was still so, so very young. And a baby would only hold her back now. Wouldn't it?

He was somewhat taken aback by the dark glare that she gave him after hearing his question. Though it didn't surprise him all that much that she was pro-life. It sort of surprised him a little bit that she wouldn't either give her child up for adoption or kill it.

From the careful working of her reply, she saw any child that she had the fortune to have- as a blessing. Regardless of the circumstances of it's conception.

Naturally, Bucky had to be present at the time and also naturally had something to say.

"Aww. That's sweet." If Clint had had his bow handy, he likely would have shot him with it. But he was right. The fact that she could stand to bear a child conceived from assault and possibly raise it and love it was sweet. Incredibly so.

And damn, if that fact didn't appeal to him as a male at his most basic and primal level.

He'd always liked women who liked kids. Mainly because he looked to them as future life partners. Partially because he liked kids and hoped to one day have a few of his own. And partially because- pregnant women turned him on. They were just..._beautiful _and sexy...

Say what one must about weird kinks, but Clint's pregnancy kink probably surpassed even some of Tony's. And he was into a little bit of everything.

Still, there was something about knowing that a woman had a child safely nestled in her womb that simply drove him absolutely fucking crazy. He couldn't help it. Really he couldn't. Pregnancy and child birth were both _very_ deeply ingrained biological functions. Fighting such a thing was a lot like trying to breathe underwater.

It just couldn't be done!

Not without a price anyways.

And the mere thought of Ichigo carrying his baby in her womb damned near made him break out sweating. Honestly he could feel himself flushing at the myriad of thoughts that having her pregnant with his baby, elicited.

Blushing a little bit, he just looked at her as if he were trying to picture her when she was pregnant. His temperature seemed to spike a little bit more as his mind supplied what wasn't there at the moment. It was so frighteningly easy to picture her with her stomach swollen and her breasts engorged, just sitting somewhere wearing a cute maternity dress- her hands touching her stomach as a smile curved her lips.

He was so far gone once he started to imagine those things that he was utterly unaware of the fact that his brain short circuited on him. He was...just about as useful as a piece of burnt toast. His mind was just gone. Completely and utterly on vacation.

Bucky and Ichigo stared at him for several heartbeats in total silence before Bucky decided to try and wave a hand in front of his face to see if he'd react. And upon seeing that he didn't turned back to Ichigo with a small frown and simply said.

"I think you broke him."

Ichigo looked at him questioningly. After all, she hadn't _done_ anything. And yet... She looked at Clint again and frowned herself. She could almost see the gears turning in his head. She just didn't know what on earth they were turning for.

"So...since he's broken for the time being, how about the two of us talk instead?" Bucky suggested slowly as if testing the waters to see how she might react.

**That's fine,** She typed out. **Just nothing too personal or weird. I don't want to accidentally break your brain too. **

He read the message and then scoffed. "Doll my brain has been broken over and over again for the past seventy years- I seriously doubt that there's anything that you could say that would do any damage." He said with a slight smile. She looked doubtful as he asked her to tell him a little bit about her childhood and such to kill time.

Fifteen minutes later- Bucky was in the same state that Clint was in and Ichigo was panicking. She didn't even know what the hell she had done! They were talking one second, laughing at really lame jokes and such and then the next they were talking sex and shit.

Again, she didn't even know what she had done.

He'd asked if she had any kinks and she had listed some of the more harmless ones and the next things she knew, _Bam!_ He was a zombie like his friend.

Looking at the phone and then back at him, she read and re read everything to double check for anything too shocking. There was nothing there that could have reduced the man to his zombie-like state. Nothing at all!

So she could tie a cherry stem with her tongue and she liked a little bit of fantasy play and domination. Just because she had been a virgin before didn't mean that she was totally innocent.

Besides, they were kinks for a reason. I mean, was she talking to a goddamned _grade schooler_?

Sighing, she sat there for a moment wondering what she should do when it occurred to her that she hadn't even asked to contact any of her friends yet to let them know that she was okay. Feeling bad for forgetting about them, even for a little while- she fiddled with the phone until she managed to pull up Messenger on it and typed in Kisuke, Rukia, and Chad's emails and sent them each a quick text to let them all know that she was okay.

* * *

Kisuke scanned the brief message from Ichigo and then dialed Tessai's number and waited for his old friend to pick up before saying, "Tessai, I got a message from an unknown number with Ichigo's name attached to it. Trace the number that I give you and pin point it's location." Once he was done giving the man the unknown number attached to the message, he slipped his cell back into his pocket.

"Do you really think the message is from Ichigo?" Yoruichi asked as she walked over.

"Oh, it's her alright." Kisuke replied with a slight smile. "She used one of the messages that I gave her once when she first started out as a Soul Reaper. The one that I gave her the night that she and the others went to save Rukia from being killed."

"Which message was that?"

"Oh, the one that said that she had no sense of humor." Kisuke said with a wry smile as he gracefully dropped down to sit. He was suddenly feeling more exhausted than usual. Probably because Ichigo had disappeared without a trace a little over two weeks ago after Orihime had been killed.

Everyone in their group had been hit hard by her death. But no one had hurt more than Ichigo and Uryu.

Ichigo, for being out with her on the day that she had died.

And Uryu- who had loved Orihime and planned to build a life with her.

Neither one of them had been doing that great since the funeral. Mostly because Uryu had become mad with grief and attacked Ichigo, and started to blame her for what had happened. Despite knowing that there was simply no way that she could have known that that corner shop was going to get shot up in a drive by.

Hell, she had _tried_ to save Orihime by trying to staunch the flow of blood.

It hadn't even occurred to her that her friend's wounds were fatal from the get go. The moment that the bullet had passed through her chest- that had been it. At least Orihime's death had been fairly quick.

And at least she hadn't died alone.

Both were something that many others couldn't say in similar situations. However none of that had mattered to Uryu. The moment that he had found out that Ichigo was alive and his girlfriend was dead, he had flipped out.

The last time anyone had seen him was the day that he'd had Ichigo on the ground by her throat screaming that it should have been her that had died.

That was part of the reason that he and many others had been tearing the city apart.

Not long before her disappearance, Uryu had sent a package to her home with a dead dove inside of it and a letter saying that she was next. Ichigo had merely tucked the letter away and buried the bird and refused to speak to anyone for a few days.

She must have been planning to leave shortly before the package had arrived, because less than two days later- she'd been gone. She hadn't left a note or a letter telling anyone where she was going nor why.

And because of the threatening nature of the package that Uryu had sent to her- they had each assumed the worst. The first thing that they had done was go to his house and tear it apart looking for her.

Dead or alive; they were going to bring her home.


	8. Chapter 8

Ichigo wasn't sure how long she just sat there, waiting for the two men to return from their...zombiefied state but when they finally did, one was drooling a little bit and the other looked utterly embarrassed. So naturally, she snapped a pic of the two and sent it to their friends with the caption, _This is what happens when your brain dies._

She was hoping that someone might find it funny. Apparently someone did find it funny, cause she got a couple of emoji's of laughing faces and one looking totally confused.

Feeling that her job for the moment was done she waited for the two to regain their senses just a bit more and was a little bit startled when the brunette- what the hell was his name again? Finally said to the blond, "Marry her Barton. Marry her right fucking now."

"Wha?" Clint said unintelligently. Not really knowing what the hell Bucky was on about.

"Marry that girl. If you have any love for me at all as a bro-"

"You aren't my bro." Clint muttered. Not that it stopped Bucky any. He started rambling on and on about all the reasons why he _should_ marry her.

One of said reasons, of course, was _girls are great_. Which was somewhere in the top ten reasons. He also mentioned some kinky stuff and got this weird far off look on his face that had Ichigo practically flaming and squirming where she sat.

Narrowing his eyes at her a little bit, he asked, "What did you two talk about?"

**Nothing.**

She was lying. He could tell by how she wouldn't even look at him. Bucky continued to ramble for another six minutes or so, going on and on about how happy he'd be married to her before realizing that Clint wasn't even listening to him anymore and rolling his eyes before jumping up and saying, "I'm going to go...con people into planning your wedding. It'll be fabulous! Ichigo, favorite wedding colors?"

"Don't you dare answer that question." Clint growled out. She looked between the two of them for a moment, obviously trying to figure out whether or not she should actually respond. And in the end, her fingers flew across the key pad of the phone in her hand and Clint groaned in dismay as she held it up for Bucky to see.

Noting the way that the man's face just lit up like a damned Christmas tree before he went skipping- did assassin's even skip?- out of the room humming the wedding march.

Clint groaned again and hid his face for a second as he hissed out, "I can't believe that you just did that. You know that you've just encouraged him to do stuff right?"

**Yes. And if nothing else, it should be fairly entertaining. Right?**

Clint eyed the message for a moment and wondered if he should laugh or maybe cry. He wasn't sure if he should or not, but he was leaning more toward 'should' at the moment. All he knew was that Bucky was going to be absolutely unbearable to live with until his 'wedding plans' were done and everything was in place.

"He'll be devastated once he finds out that you set him up." He warned her.

**Isn't that what open bars are for. **

She was totally unrepentant. And he couldn't help but love it no matter how frustrating things were probably going to get for him over the next few weeks.

"So..what else did you do while I was...uh-"

**Vegging?**

"Sure let's go with that."

**Sent a text to friends. Let them know that I'm alive. **

He frowned for a moment. He'd been wondering why she hadn't asked to contact her friends before. But had supposed that it was merely because she had too much on her mind or something. Still...she could have asked. It wasn't like he would deny her a chance to let someone know that she was alive. But then maybe she hadn't realize that before.

"Has anyone contacted you back?"

**No. Probably still tracing the unknown number attached to the phone.**

He cocked his head a little bit at that. Just what did she mean by, they were still tracing the number? Were her friend's cops? Government agents? His curiosity piqued, he asked. "What do you mean by they must still be tracing the number? Who exactly did you contact?"

**Friends. Kisuke, Rukia, and Chad. I didn't bother with anyone else since those three would let them know that they heard from me. As for your question, Kisuke is former military turned semi mad scientist. He sort of has his fingers in a little bit of everything. He's been keeping an eye on me for a while. **

He read the message and frowned, the gears in his head turning.

"How do you know him? This, Kisuke guy?"

**He was an old friend of my dad's. **

"What is he like? Is he dangerous?"

**Kind of shady. As for the dangerous part- only if he's pushed. The rest of the time he's more mischievous than harmful. **

"What will happen once he's traced the phone number?"

**He'll...at least stop by to check on me. Maybe try and take me home. **

"Do you want to go home?" He asked, trying not to feel any semblance of hurt if she did. After all, it was understandable if she wanted to go home. She could rest in her own home, in the company of her friends and feel comforted. She was probably uncomfortable here in the tower. Maybe even with him, though she seemed to hide any discomfort caused by his presence pretty well.

**Dunno. Maybe? It would be nice to be surrounded by my own stuff. Maybe lay in my own bed. **

"Does my presence make you uncomfortable?"

**No. Not uncomfortable. Maybe a little bit overwhelmed. But...not uncomfortable.** She typed out before then adding.** I'm not sure if you realize it, but you have a very strong, and _fierce_ presence. ****It makes a person feel calm, protected even. It's nice. **

He blinked at the message for a moment and then looked back at her almost bashfully.

"Is that why you aren't afraid of me? After what I've done to you, I mean?"

**You're a good man. Honorable. Even I can tell that much. What happened didn't just hurt me, it hurt you too. So yeah, I guess that's part of why I'm not scared of you. **

Clint chewed his lower lip for a moment and frowned at the words as he read them before then asking, "It's just part of the reason?"

Ichigo didn't bother responding to this question since it would get her into trouble either way that she looked at it. After all, how do you tell the guy that- did stuff- that you could have stopped him at any point and prevented things from happening? It seemed cruel.

And frankly she wasn't so keen to mention it considering how badly he'd been taking things.

But she doubted that he would understand _why_ she had let him hurt her anyways. After all, how does one person tell another that they had been on the verge of a psychotic break or something? She wondered when she suddenly felt something familiar and snapped her head up to look around the room in slight alarm.

She could feel the tingle of power brushing along her skin. Could feel that it was from Kiskue and nearly face palmed when some sort of alarm sounded out in the hallway. The sound was so loud that she had to clap her hands over her ears to try and block it out as Clint got up out of his seat and started to move towards the door before pausing to ask over the grating sound.

"Do you know what's going on?" He felt the need to ask her just in case her friend was there and had set the defense systems of the tower, off.

**Kisuke's here. **She typed out, before then tacking on. **And I think he's upset.**

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her why she would think that her friend was upset when an explosion suddenly rocked the building, the sound of metal and glass and stone shaking and groaning reached his ears over the alarm as he staggered a little bit and then turned his head to look at Ichigo again.

She'd already typed out her next message and was holding the phone out to him. He took it absently and read it as she slowly climbed off of the bed and stood.

He sighed and put the phone away in one of his pant's pocket and then reached out and grasped her elbow in a gentle yet firm grip and said, "Alright. I'll take you do to him before someone gets hurt."

She nodded her head as a determined expression crossed her pretty face and the two of them started moving.


	9. Chapter 9

Kisuke nearly had a fit when he realized what building Ichigo was currently residing in. And in all honesty, could anyone really blame him? I mean, the girl was supposed to stay as far away from superhumans and such as possible. And low and behold- _superhuman central_.

_What the hell was wrong with that kid?_ I mean, how hard could it be not to hang out with superhumans? He wondered idly as he felt his temper and his power flare dangerously. So much so that he accidentally caused a pressure explosion that cause the front of the building to practically cave in.

"Kisuke! Reign it in." Yoruichi hissed at him as some sort of alarm went off and people with guns and such came running to their location. Kisuke looked at the guys, their pitiful weapons and then towards the elevator at the very back of the lobby. He could sense Ichigo's presence.

In all honesty, it was faint and difficult to pick up unlike it usually was. Which was a clear indication of something being wrong. Exhaustion. Illness. Injury maybe?

He was so zoned out at the moment that he completely missed one of the guys with guns taking a shot at him. He missed, badly. But that wasn't the point. So he decided to unarm the men.

Literally.

Instead of simply taking their weapons or making them drop them- he pulled his zanbaktou, Benihime from it's sheath in his cane and then made quick work of nearly severing the men's arms from their bodies. Once that was done, he cleaned his blade with a sharp flick of his wrist and then turned to find Yoruichi hiding her face in her hands and shaking her head.

"What?" He asked defensively. As far as he was concerned, he'd done the guys all a favor. They could live with their injuries and even have them surgically fixed. It wasn't a big deal. Besides, they had shot at him first. And he hadn't even done anything but stand there. It was a clear case of self defense!

Yoruichi slowly dropped her hands from her face and gave him a disappointed look. Causing him to visibly bristle with temper. "What? They shot at me first!"

"Ichigo will be upset."

"Well she can damned well get over it." He snapped in irritation as the next group of security started to appear.

"Now look what you've done." Yoruichi chided him. "They won't listen to us if they think we're hostile."

"Think nothing," He said darkly. "We are hostile." And it was true. He was feeling _very_ hostile at the moment because these motherfuckers were standing between them and their friend. So yeah, he was hostile. He was also very worried and concerned and he wasn't likely to mess around with anyone.

He wanted Ichigo dammit!

"No. _You're_ hostile. I'm...apparently just along for the ride." Yoruichi growled at him. He glared at her for a minute. And she glared back, clearly unimpressed by his little tantrum as they both heard someone roared somewhere towards the back of the lobby.

"Who the good goddamn fucked up my building?!"

They both turned their heads just a smidge to see an _enraged_ looking brunette stomping towards them wearing red and gold armor. Behind him was a couple of friends. A red headed woman. And a tall blond haired man wearing a tee shirt, jeans and a brown leather jacket.

The three made their way towards them, their eyes scanning the damage to the building and...to the guys lying on the floor before they each glared at the two of them.

Yoruichi sighed and muttered, "Here we go." As Kisuke turned his body to fully face them. His dark eyes glinting with recognition.

"Ah, the infamous Avengers- I'd say that it's a pleasure to meet you. Unfortunately we came on business today."

Stark looked them both over for a moment before then pointing at his injured security team. "You do that?" He demanded.

Kisuke shrugged his shoulders and merely said, "One of them shot at me. I just disarmed them."

"Disarmed is right," The blond said in a horrified tone. "Are their arms even still attached?"

"They're only partially severed. They'll live."

"Unless they bleed out first."

"An unfortunate technicality. Now can we please get do to _why_ we're here?" Kisuke asked impatiently. The three Avengers merely glared at him. He gave them a very dark looking smile before saying. "You have something that belongs to us. A girl. She's about seventeen. Strawberry blond, turquoise eyes, about...so tall," He said as he measured Ichigo's height with his hand before then tacking on, "We'd like her back now."

"We don't negotiate with terrorists." The blond said automatically, his expression angry.

The red head held an arm out and gently touched his chest to quiet him and then asked curiously and maybe even a hint of...concern, "What do you want with her?"

Kisuke and Yoruichi both exchanged a look before he said, "She's _ours_. She's been missing for several weeks. And we've been very worried about her." He emphasized the words 'ours' and 'worried' for good reason.

Ichigo was _theirs_.

She was one of their people. One of their friends. She was their goddamned leader.

He'd be damned if he let anyone stand between them. Whether they were the hero's of the world or not.

"That doesn't explain why you would come here and attack our home." The red head said.

"If you're talking about the building- that was an accident. My temper got away from me a little bit." Kisuke said. "Besides, we don't really know if the kid is being held hostage or not. And you aren't exactly co-operative."

"Neither are you!" The brunette practically screamed. "You came into our home! Fucked up the building-"

"If it makes you feel any better- I know some people that can fix the wall easy. It won't even cost you anything." Kisuke said as he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the crumbled mess.

"That doesn't make anything better! What the hell is wrong with you? You attack us and demand a person and are totally unremorseful! I mean, are you fucking deranged?!"

"Kisuke, take a walk."

"Huh?" He said unintelligibly as Yoruichi stepped forward.

"I said, take a walk." The woman growled at him before she grabbed him and shoved him behind her. He muttered something about meddlesome females and wandered over to a pile of rubble and quietly sat himself down on it and pouted as Yoruichi then turned to the three Avengers and bowed to them as she said politely, "Please forgive my friend. He lacks manners when he is worried."

The three stared hard at her as she slowly straightened her spine and then said. "As Kisuke said, Ichigo has been missing for several weeks. And we have been worried. We would like to take her home where she'll be safe, if you don't mind."

The three frowned at her for a moment, noting that there was something off about the way that she spoke about the kid. Nat was the first to notice that the woman said the word, _safe_. And felt her mind latch onto it in confusion even as she asked, "What do you mean by, 'safe'? This is Avenger's tower. It's one of the safest places in the world."

"I'm sure that it is. However nothing and no one is infallible. That includes you and your home." The woman replied kindly.

"What exactly does the girl need to be safe from?"

The woman opened her mouth to respond to the question, but paused and heaved a heavy sigh as several people seemed to appear out of nowhere. Tony and Steve both gaped at the growing group as Nat simply scowled at them as they moved in closer.

There was something odd about the group. Even Tony and Steve could tell that much.

For one thing they were wearing strange black clothing. And they carried swords. Who the hell even carried swords anymore? This wasn't japan, way, way back in the day. There was no such thing as ninja's and samurai's anymore. And yet... The group moved with an unnatural sort of grace.

Each of them focused intently on the task at hand. And that task seemed to be to collect the girl that Clint had assaulted. Finally after making their way into the building- pausing only briefly to examine the damage to it- the group came to a stop several feet from the woman that had been speaking with them. And a small, dark haired girl with wide inhuman, violet eyes asked. Well, more like demanded really.

"What happened here?"

* * *

Because of what had happened before, Clint didn't like the idea of using an elevator to get down to the ground floor. It was a good thing too since one of the elevator cables had snapped and damned near taken Thor out barely three minutes after the building had shook.

Now the sulking blond was following him and Ichigo as they took the stairs. "I still do not understand why the cable snapped." Thor said more to himself than either of them. Of course, he wouldn't understand. Clint thought with a roll of his eyes as he helped Ichigo get around some broken glass by looping an arm around her waist and lifting her up off of the floor.

Still though he was sort of setting himself up to be made fun of. And Clint was feeling a little bit on edge. So...

"Maybe the cable snapped because you ate too many pop-tarts." He commented offhandedly as he carefully set Ichigo back down. Thor let out a loud, dramatic gasp and then quickly fired back.

"_Blasphemer!_ You can never eat enough pop-tarts."

Clint snorted and shook his head, fairly certain that Thor didn't know that he was yanking his chain. But one quick glance at him as they reached the next floor, showed that the man obviously had understood the joke and was simply playing along.

"We should reach the ground level soon." He said softly. Ichigo thinned her lips and nodded her head grimly. Her mind already supplying images of the apocalypse or something. She had a bad feeling that Kisuke had done something incredibly _stupid _in an effort to get to her.

Her stomach was churning dangerously and she felt weirdly nervous. Almost like she could throw up.

Clint helped her over a portion of caved in stone and then turned to check where they were as Thor climbed over the rubble as well. "We're here." He announced before then turning to her and asking, "You sure that you need to be here?" She nodded her head again and he gave a small sigh as he reached out and took one of her small hands in his and grabbed the latch on the door and twisted it and shouldered it open and then walked through.


	10. Chapter 10

Ichigo took one look at the scene before her and blanched as she clapped a hand over her mouth and stared in utter horror. _Oh Kisuke…_ What had the man done? She wondered as she eyed the damage to the building and the bodies strewn around the floor in shock.

This isn't exactly what she had imagined would happen when she had let him know that she was okay. If anything the worst that she had expected was for him to show up and demand to see her. Not flat out _attack_ these people and practically declare war on them!

Clint and Thor eyed the intruders that Ichigo's had claimed were her friends with mutual steely eyed expressions of outrage and anger. Cutting icy eyes from the bloody scene before then to the girl, both men noted through their anger that she looked utterly horrified by what had obviously happened and both mentally sighed as their anger waned a little bit.

It was apparent that she hadn't known that this would happen. If she had- they knew that from what little bit of time she'd spent among them- she would have _warned_ them.

Reaching out, Clint slipped and arm around her slender shoulders and drew her closer to his side as he clenched his jaw for a moment and then said, "Let's go."

Ichigo didn't move for a moment. She didn't even react to his words. But when she finally did react, it was in a way that neither man had expected at all.

Clint hadn't been aware that she could move so fast while injured. Hell, he'd never seen anyone move so fast. Not even Steve and Bucky. And they were both super soldiers!

But she did. She moved so fast that he didn't register the fact that she had shrugged his arm off until she was already across the room. He blinked and it was as if her very being _blurred_ in and out of focus for a moment. He didn't even hear Tony yelp as he was roughly pushed aside by her as she pushed past him, Steve, and Nat.

And then... It was like all hell broke loose. Literally.

The easiest way to describe what she did were the words, blitz attack.

She struck so quickly and furiously that her victim had no real way to defend against it. Hell, from the way that she was tossing the guy around like a rag doll, he seriously doubted that _anyone_ could have defended against her in that moment.

He'd never seen a woman so pissed before in his life. Honestly it scared him shitless.

He was vaguely aware of someone in the room muttering, "Holy shit." As the blond guy hit a wall across the room about fifty feet away and slowly hit the floor in a heap before someone made any move to grab her and make her stop.

The person who intervened was a small, petite girl with mid shoulder length straight black hair. The moment that Ichigo started to move towards the fallen man again, the girl ran up and wrapped her arms around her and started yelling, "Stop! Stop! Ichigo! Stop!"

Ichigo froze as she brought a hand up to grip one of the girl's hands around her middle and simply settled for glaring daggers at the man as the smaller girl waited for several seconds to see what she would do. And then anxiously shifted herself around so that she was standing in front of her now, her arms remaining around her.

Ichigo absently placed a hand on top of her head and just breathed. Trying to use breathing excercises to calm herself as she continued to glare at the man for a moment before then turning her head and pointedly looking at several other people and then pointing to the men in the security uniforms.

Clint saw her mouth the words, _Help them now_. Which was quickly followed by said people scurrying to do her bidding. Apparently that weren't too keen on pissing the girl off more than she already was. Clint couldn't say that he blamed them any.

He'd nearly jumped out of his skin, himself.

Finally after what seemed like forever, but was actually just a few seconds, Ichigo moved again. It was subtle, and mostly consisted of her fingers twitching in the other girl's hair. But the girl took it as a positive sign and looked up at her and smiled.

"Ichigo-"

_"Hey, midget_." Ichigo rasped out, cringing a little bit at the soreness of her throat.

"Ichigio," The girl sobbed out as she hugged her a little bit tighter and buried her face against the taller girl's chest for a moment before pulling away again and starting to ramble, "I'm so glad that we finally found you. You've been missing for weeks!"

Clint cocked his head slightly at this.

To his knowledge Ichigo had only been missing for a few days. And there had been no missing person's report filed on her that was dated recently in the information that Tony had sent to Nat's phone. "We've been tearing the city apart looking for you- We- We that that Uryu might have gotten you and killed y-"

Ichigo stopped her from saying that last bit by calmly placing her hand over her mouth to cut her off before she could finish.

But the damage was pretty much done.

He wasn't the only person that had picked up on the unfinished sentence and was feeling somewhat concerned. Nat, Steve, Thor- Tony was too busy fussing over the people helping the fallen security team to really be listening at this point. But the rest of them caught the words easily.

"Ichigo, what happened? Why did you leave so suddenly without telling anyone?" The girl asked in an almost desperate tone.

Ichigo merely stared down at her for a moment and then looked away, not really knowing what to say to her. She had left because she needed some time alone to mourn without Uryu and his threats hanging over her head. And while she knew that Rukia and the others would understand that, she also knew that they would have butted in and kept her form being alone when she needed to be.

And as much as she loved the lot of them- Kisuke's sorry ass included- they were a nosy bunch that didn't always understand the meaning of 'personal time'.

She felt Rukia shake her a little bit and glanced back down at her and rasped out, _"Sorry." _

"Don't be sorry. Just don't do it again," Rukia said as she reached up and placed her hand against her throat and then chided, "Now hold still and let me fix your throat. I don't know what you've done to it, but it's obvious that you've done something. It sounds terrible!" As her fingertips started to glow a white-blue color for a moment.

Rukia pushed some of her energy into Ichigo's vocal chords and then slowly expanded it so that it pulsed through every part of her. If anything was hurting, it would take away some if not all of the pain and discomfort. However as she was healing what damage she found, her mind felt something odd inside of her friend_ pushing_ back at her.

_What the?_ Rukia thought as she tilted her head slightly to the side and then tried to focus on what was pushing back at her. Her eyes started glowing and she quickly and systematically sent her power through every part of Ichigo again until she managed to locate and isolate what it was that had pushed back at her.

It was small, and at first pass over- she hadn't even been able to tell that it was there at all. But now...she could feel a very strong-ish and distinct heartbeat coming from it. _It's alive_. Rukia thought with a small frown as she tried to figure out what it was when it finally hit her.

She dropped her hand so quickly that one would think that she'd just been set on fire. And stumbled back several steps away from the taller girl and started saying over and over again, "Holy shit!"

"Rukia, what's wrong?"

Rukia's only response was the same, Holy shit, as before.

Yoruichi politely excused herself from speaking with the Avenger's still paying attention to them to go see what had Rukia freaking out. She thought at first that something might be wrong, but the closer she got to Ichigo, the more that she felt..._it_.

Her golden eyes widened a little bit in surprise and she laid a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder and then smiled at her before she circled around her and then started to discreetly sniff at her. Ichigo jumped a little bit when she pressed her nose to the valley of her breasts, but otherwise didn't react until she had her face pressed against her stomach.

Then the girl grabbed her by the hair and pulled- not too roughly, mind you- her head back away from her. Yoruichi just grinned at her as she noted the familiar look of confusion on the girl's face as she asked, "Who's the father?"

And grinned all the more when Ichigo's face _burned_ with embarrassment.

"Ichigo's pregnant?" Renji's asked curiously from where he was on the floor, healing one of the last security guys. His head snapped up and he was eyeing his friend weirdly as the red headed woman from the Avenger's moved in his line of sight and asked Yoruichi curiously.

"You can tell if she's pregnant?"

"Honey, it's easy for us to tell such things," Yoruichi said from where she was, Ichigo had yet to let her go. "We have enhanced senses."

"And power." Nat said. It wasn't a question, though it would certainly help explain some things as far as she was concerned.

The woman gave her an amused smile, "Yes, that too."

"So you're superhuman's?" Steve asked curiously as Thor and Clint walked over to join him.

"No," The woman said, her smile fading somewhat. "While some of us may qualify as superhuman- the only one among us that is _wholly_ human, would be Ichigo."

"I see." Was all that Nat could think to say as Ichigo slowly released her hold on the woman's hair and let her get back up.

"Yes, it is rather telling- isn't it. Now while we're technically on the subject," She turned to Ichigo and asked inquisitively, "Who is the father?"

Clint almost audibly gulped at the question. His stomach was tying itself in anxious knots. It had been ever since the woman with the burgundy hair had said that Ichigo was pregnant with his baby.

That had his mind sputtering to a halt for several heartbeats.

His baby. Oh god, he'd gotten her pregnant. He internally felt like screaming because of his own stupidity. Sure he had known that there was a possibility because she had been ovulating at the time, but he hadn't expected a bunch of superhuman's to confirm it faster than any pregnancy test could!

And oh god, he wasn't sure if he was ready for this. And Ichigo- _shit_, she didn't seem ready for it either and she couldn't raise a kid alone. For fuck's sake she shouldn't have too!

It took him a little bit longer than he might have liked, but he finally managed to pull himself together enough to glance at Steve and just say, "Bucky is going to be unbearable for any of us to live with for a while." Causing the blond to look at him oddly as he moved forward and slowly made his way over to Ichigo.

It was time to pay the piper and take responsibility for what he had done. He just hoped that Ichigo could be a bit more understanding and not hate him for taking something else away from her.


	11. Chapter 11

_I'm a masochist_. Clint thought to himself as he packed an overnight bag full of clean clothing, toiletries, and a few weapons too as he prepared to leave to go spend the weekend with Ichigo.

It had been about a week since the day that her friends had shown up, confirmed her pregnancy, and he'd gotten down on his knees and vowed to her in front of her friends and his own to protect and care of her and their baby all the days of his life before then proposing to her.

Sure he had known that it would be a long shot to begin with, to have her agree- but...he'd at least hoped that she would think on it. But he understood her reasons for saying no.

And she had done so so damned sweetly too.

Giving him a small, pretty smile and a brief kiss on the forehead before then slowly turning and walking away.

If not for the burgundy haired woman giving him her phone number and address and telling him that she would work on her for him- he might not have managed to weasel himself into a weekend of spending time with her.

It had taken the woman, that he now knew as Yoruichi, three days to wrangle the story of what had happened to out of Ichigo. After which she had decided to pay him a private visit at the tower to talk with him and see about getting his side of things.

He'd expected her to rip his heart out and eat it once she knew everything. But instead she had only sighed and muttered, "Well, that does explain some things." He'd been more than a little bit confused by her words until she had gone on to explain to him the reasons _why_ Ichigo had so kindly turned down his proposal.

He'd been more than a little bit surprised to hear that it wasn't because she thought him unworthy. In fact she seemed to believe him to be an honorable man- he'd gotten choked up at this as the woman went on to inform him. That one of the main reasons that Ichigo had turned him down (outside of what she had just mentioned) had a lot to do with the fact that he felt that he needed to be punished for what had happened.

The circumstances had been less than desirable, and more than a little bit beyond his control- but that by no means meant that he should tie himself to her for an mistake. Not when he could one day find love and tie himself to that person.

Saying yes for the wrong reasons- in her mind, would have been cruel to him.

Clint had just sat there for several moments, feeling utterly astonished, and shocked and- And then he'd broken down and bawled his eyes out like a baby. Which must have startled the woman a little bit, because she had tried almost everything- including getting up out of her seat and hugging him and petting his hair- to get him to stop.

If not for the fact that Thor and Nat showed up with ice cream for all of them, he likely would have kept crying until he felt like a little bitch.

After that, all four of them had sat down and ate their ice cream until he saw Yoruichi offer Nat some of hers with a smile and then called her cute. Totally and unrepentantly. It had taken him a moment or so to realize that she was flirting with his friend. And then he recalled how Ichigo had shared some of her food with him and Bucky while in the infirmary when she had been absolutely starving.

And he wound up asking if it was a superhuman trait of hers and some of her friends to share food when they were flirting. Thor had nearly choked on his bite of rocky road with sprinkles. Nat had merely listened with interest as Clint went on to describe Ichigo sharing food with him and Bucky.

Yoruichi listened intently and then grinned slyly. "It is for some of us. Ichigo is different though."

"How so?"

"Well, unlike how I flirt with you're cute friend here-" Thor coughed a few times, interrupting her for a moment before finally falling silent again. "Ichigo shares things because she cares. Like genuinely cares. She doesn't care much if she's starving or dying, or in desperate need of something important. She'll push those things and her needs aside to give someone else who needs the same things. She'll wait until _after_ that person and any others are taken care of before she takes anything for herself."

"I've never heard of a person being so selfless before." Clint said with a small frown, his mind already going over the pros and cons of such behavior as Yorichi grinned and said proudly.

"That's our Ichigo. I've seen examples of such behavior many times since we first met. I'll say this for the girl, she takes care of her own."

"I've been wondering...you said that you and you're friends are superhumans- If that is so, I can't imagine that any of you would take well to having a human girl underfoot. How did you meet her anyways?"

The woman laughed in amusement, her gold eyes sparkling. "You don't meet Ichigo. She may not seem like it right now. But that girl is like a _maelstrom_. She crashes into your world and often times drags you out of your little universe kicking and screaming into hers."

Clint and the others all looked at her inquisitively. Not knowing what to make of her words.

They couldn't imagine such a girl doing something like that. Then again, she had been rather violent with that blond guy. Bucky had seen the security footage of what had happened after he'd crawled out from underneath the steel beam that had fallen on him several floors below the infirmary- and he'd been whining- literally, about missing Ichigo tossing the blond guy around like a doll.

He'd even gone so far as to study the footage over and over and over again before coming to the conclusion that she had some sort of training. Clint had thought that he was crazy at first. But he'd showed him the footage at a slower speed and they'd both seen her use some form of a fighting style.

Karate? Martial arts?

They hadn't been able to pin point it exactly, but they knew that it _was_ there. Which had left questions in Clint's mind as to why she hadn't tried to fight him off before he could hurt her.

Weirdly enough, it was Thor that had supplied him with a little bit of an explanation. Very kindly and calmly stating that it probably had to do with her honor. He'd even gone on to tell Clint that different countries and their people had very different versions of honor.

Some of those people were even taught how to fight at a very young age and even take an oath _never_ to use their skills against someone who can't defend themselves. They are taught to protect and value life. Even above their own.

Which in a weird and warped way, made absolute sense to him.

It didn't stop him from being upset enough to break a few things in the gym and try to beat the stuffing out of Barnes in a sparring match that had lasted almost three hours.

But in a weird way it did make sense.

So as mad as he might have been about it- he let it go after figuring how hard it must have been to stay her hand and not defend herself. In compensation for one form of honor she had lost another. The only thing of it all was that he had lost his too.

But then, she probably hadn't known how to fix that and was likely still floundering about it.

Weirdly enough, he wasn't so mad after figuring _that_ out. If anything he could empathize with her. After all, she was a seventeen year old girl- she didn't have all of the answers. She could only do what she thought was right and try to pick up the mess in the aftermath.

Which made a _lot_ of sense to him since she seemed like a responsible type to him.

While visiting Yoruichi had been oddly informative and told them all kinds of stuff that none of them had known about Ichigo. One such thing had been that she was a Japanese government sanctioned military general. A high ranking one too.

Apparently Ichigo, if Yoruichi was to be believed at all, had caught the eye of some military personnel when she had been just thirteen years old. After which she had been approached by some of them and asked to sign up despite her age.

The story itself, while somewhat unbelievable, held enough grain of truth to it to it to make them really pay attention.

He'd been strangely surprised to learn that aside form the military thing, Ichigo had lost her mother when she was eight to an unknown killer. And had been street brawling with yakuza and gang members since she was nine. In truth, the quiet girl that he'd met really didn't seem like the kind to do such things.

But again, he recalled the blitz attack on the blond guy that was supposed to be her friend. And then he figured that she likely had her reasons for not simply saying that she was a fighter to begin with.

He'd also learned that she'd picked up 'girly' hobbies, such as knitting and cooking because she wasn't much of a girly person at all. The cooking, she had seen as a necessity after Kisuke had given her food poisoning one too many times and she had decided that she wanted to _live_ just a bit longer.

The knitting, she had gotten into before her sisters had been taken from her. She'd not had a lot of money for any holiday gifts and had decided to try her hand at making something that they might like. She had made them some scarves and fuzzy gloves and even some socks.

But shortly after that, her dad had died. So she'd never really had a chance to give the stuff to the kids before they were taken. Now she knitted because she found it somewhat soothing.

That and Yoruichi had laughingly told them that the last time Renji had upset her by making fun of her while she'd been knitting- she'd stabbed him with one of the needles. Now everyone tended to avoid her when she was knitting because they all feared being stabbed by her.

So yes- she found it very soothing.

Once she finished up her ice cream and her visit, she had dug around in one of her pockets and pulled out a sheet of paper with a list of things and then handed it to him. It had looked like a grocery list at first glance. But after he'd looked at it again, he'd seen that it was actually a note.

Ichigo had written him a note inviting him over to stay with her- at her home, in what she called 'crazy central' for the weekend to bond and talk over some stuff.

He'd smiled a little bit as she even went on to write that she'd already been scoping out preschools and a few other things but didn't feel right doing stuff without his input. She'd left her address and phone number and written instructions on how to reach her home just in case he got lost.

And then made a small note at the bottom of the page to tell him that yes, she was avoiding eating huge quantities of junk food, and drinking coffee. But she made no promises whatsoever about avoiding hot chocolate because it was the nectar of the gods and she wasn't going to live long without it.

He'd laughed a little bit upon finishing the note and then looked at Yoruichi as she stood and simply solemnly said, "I'll be there."

"Today is the day huh?" Steve's voice said from behind him, nearly causing Clint to jump out of his skin as he was pulled back to the present.

"Yeah." Was all that he could think to say as the man rested his shoulder against the doorframe of his bedroom and studied him.

"Nervous?" He finally asked.

Clint turned to shoot him a scowl. "I'm not nervous." He finally said after a few moments. No- he wasn't nervous at all. He was several heartbeats away from fucking _terrified _that he was somehow going to fuck things up and get kicked out and forbidden to ever see Ichigo or his baby again. But not nervous.

Steve merely gave him a knowing look and Clint nearly threw a lamp at his head in irritation.

"Sure you aren't," Steve finally said before then tacking on, "That's why you're hands are shaking. And your currently imagining bludgeoning me to death with that lamp to your left."

"Well maybe if you weren't so damned knowing." Clint growled at him, causing Steve's lips to twitch slightly in amusement. If that was the worst retort that the man could come up with at the moment then Steve would count himself very lucky. Normally Clint could tear a person to shreds when he decided to run his mouth. The fact that he wasn't now was a clear testament to his nervousness.

"I'm not knowing Clint. But you're body language is practically screaming, nervousness to me."

Clint looked as if he wanted to say something particularly scathing, but abruptly shut his mouth when Steve walked up to him and put his hands on his shoulders and said, "You're going to be fine. This weekend is going to be fine. You and Ichigo are going to talk and bond and...probably argue over the colors you'll want to paint the nursery. But you'll both be fine. Try to have a little bit more faith in yourself."

And then he handed him a piece of paper and then said, "You were right. Bucky is unbearable. He wants to know what she thinks of pink and purple roses." Steve said with a grin as he quickly skittered away.

Clint really did throw the lamp this time. But he missed.

So the bastard managed to walk away laughing.


	12. Chapter 12

On his way to Ichigo's place, Clint stopped by a florist and got her some flowers. Because it just seemed like the thing to do for the woman/girl having his baby. There was nothing remotely romantic about it. He assured himself as he studied the flowers with a critical eye.

It was just him being a gentleman.

After that, he stopped somewhere else not far away and bought a box of hot chocolate for her and wrapped it in a pretty satin ribbon that he'd picked up several days after she had left the tower while he'd been out walking around, trying to clear his head a bit. And then continued his trip.

All in all the drive to Ichigo's home took about forty minutes. And he was slightly weirded out to know that the street sign to the road that she lived on, actually read as _Crazy Corner_.

Snorting to himself as he turned on the street leading to her home, he drove another five minutes before pulling up to the curb of a cozy looking cottage style, two story house with a nice yard. Taking a moment to eye the place curiously, he wondered briefly if he was in the right place until the front door of the house opened and she stepped out onto the porch.

She was looking...considerably better than she had when she'd been in the infirmary.

She was wearing a cream colored long sleeved sweater with mint colored leaf embroidery along the front of it and a pair of jeans. Her long strawberry blond hair had been pulled back into a ponytail and she even looked like she was wearing a touch of makeup.

Lip gloss and some blush, maybe?

Either way she looked gorgeous to him.

Grabbing the flowers, hot chocolate, and his overnight bag- he climbed out of the truck and quickly closed and locked the vehicle down before then turning and walking up the walkway to the house and smiling a little as she followed his movements with her eyes.

Her lips quirking ever so slightly as he dropped his bag on one of the steps and walked over to her and held out the gifts he'd gotten for her.

She looked at them, her smile never fading or leaving her face as she slowly reached out to take them before saying, "They're beautiful, thank you."

"The flowers or the hot chocolate?"

"The hot chocolate." She grinned.

He snorted. "Figures. I got the one girl in the world who doesn't appreciate being brought flowers."

"I do appreciate flowers. And these are very nice," She said sweetly before then tacking on. "But the hot chocolate will last longer."

He laughed softly and shook his head despite knowing that she was right. She laughed with him for a moment before finally saying, "Let me grab you're things and I'll take you inside." She started to move past him to do just that, but Clint stopped her by laying a hand on her arm and saying.

"Nu-uh sweetheart. You're not carrying my things. I'm a grown man- I can carry them myself."

She looked hesitant for a moment. It probably had to do with the fact that he was her guest and she was trying to be a good hostess. And while that was all well and good and all. His bag was heavy and had several fire arms in it that he didn't want her anywhere near.

So putting his foot down now was for the best for the both of them. It kept her from accidentally setting one of the weapons off, and it gave him some piece of mind.

"You have weapons in you're bag, don't you?" She asked. He nodded his head, studying her expression while trying to figure out what she must be thinking.

She didn't exactly look pissed or upset to him, but she didn't really look all that pleased either. Still, she said nothing about it. She merely gave him a nod and then waited for him to collect his bag and return to her side before she opened the door to her house and motioned with her head for him to follow her inside.

As soon as he stepped though the door, he got a mental image of himself and Ichigo sitting on the living room floor with a couple of kids sitting in their laps while they played a game or watched a Disney movie together as a family.

The mental image was so strong to him that he almost couldn't shake it.

Not even when she started talking to him again.

"I have something picked out for dinner later. I hope that you don't have any food allergies. I'd feel really bad if this weekend ended with you having to go to the ER with anaphylactic shock. So... I have chicken, fish- several types of fish, actually- steak, pork chops-"

Finally managing to shake the stuff in his head he looked at her as she glanced at him expectantly. Obviously awaiting his input. "I'm not allergic to anything," He finally said before then tacking on. "And I'm not a picky eater. Anything you want to fix is fine by me. And I'll even help if you want."

"That would be nice. I sometimes wind up burning things if I turn away from it for too long..." She said awkwardly as a fetching pink blush colored her cheeks.

He grinned, his eyes alight with mischief. "I hate when that happens." He teased.

"So do I." She admitted before then muttering something about getting tired of having to call the local fire department every other Tuesday or something. They knew her name now and it was just plain embarrassing to her as a woman.

Clint merely listened to her muttering to herself, unobserved, and couldn't help but hide his face so that he could laugh at her without being seen as she led him through the house and up the stairs to what looked like a guest bedroom.

"I... I know that this situation is a little bit weird and all," She said gently. "And I know that you're just staying for this weekend, for now. I mean- I'm sure that you'll want to drop in whenever you can, between work and all and stuff... But I sort of feel weird putting you in the guest room. But I thought that you might be really uncomfortable if I let you stay in my room and-" He reached out and placed his fingertips against her lips to stop her from saying anymore.

He could pretty much guess the gist of what she was trying to say. And his heart leapt up into his throat and he stepped a little bit closer to her so that her back was up against the wall and he was towering over her as he asked in a husky tone, "Would you really want me in the same room with you while you sleep, Ichigo? You're a sweet girl. Innocent too. It might prove to be too much of a temptation to me."

Ichigo blinked bewildered eyes at him and then asked, "Would that be a bad thing?" He cocked his head a little bit. Curious to see where she was going to go with this. "I mean, we're already having a baby together. So what harm could it do?"

He wanted to tell her that it could do a lot of harm. But right here in this moment, he wasn't so sure it could hurt anything. She didn't hate him. She wasn't even pissed at him for what happened.

"Are you saying that you would be okay with us sleeping together?" He asked, wondering if she was aware of the full ramifications of such a request. So he decided to make things a little bit clearer or her. "Before you answer me, let me be clear Ichigo. There would be very little sleeping involved if something should happen between us. If we sleep together you'll be my girl. _Mine_ and mine alone. And you'll be my girl either until one of us meets someone else and we part ways or one of us dies. Do you understand?"

Ichigo inhaled sharply beneath his fingertips, her eyes wide with shock and maybe a little bit of..._arousal_? Clint swallowed past the odd lump forming in his throat as he waited anxiously for her to reply to his question. His icy blue eyes searching her expression for something. Some sign of disgust, or revulsion- _anything_ that might save them both later on. But he didn't see any of those things.

Instead he watched curiously as she reached up and gently removed his fingertips from her lips and then reached up with the same hand and grabbed a handful of his shirt and before he realized what she was doing, she had yanked him down to her level and pressed her mouth against his own.

He held himself perfectly still. Partially because he was afraid to move so much as an inch, and partially because he wanted to give her this. The contact between their lips was soft, hesitant, yet oh so very sweet.

He could tell that she didn't know how to kiss. Perhaps because she had never been kissed before, and his heart melted a little bit as he slowly shifted just a little bit so that he could brace his hands on either side of her shoulders, against the wall and pressed his mouth a little more fully against her own.

Ichigo made a soft humming sound that had him smiling against her lips before he sealed his mouth over hers completely, startling her slightly as she felt his tongue lick along her bottom lip seeking entrance to her mouth. Ichigo gasped and parted her lips for him.

Reveling in the feelings that he was evoking in her before he quickly snatched her up in his arms and ran in the direction of where he'd seen her bedroom.


	13. Chapter 13

The moment that they were in the bedroom, Clint wasted no time in walking over to the bed and gently placing Ichigo down on it. And then tearing his mouth away from her own to try and catch his breath and try to form some coherent thought. He kept looking at her face, anxiously searching for distress or discomfort or even an ounce of nervousness in her.

He never found any of those things, and it puzzled him a bit. Especially since innocent girls generally had a bad case of the nerves when they invited a guy to bed. Or at least that had been his experience on the matter.

And the fact that there was nothing there- no shame, nervousness, anxiety- well, it was going to drive him fucking crazy until he figured out what she was thinking.

"Tell me what you're thinking right now. Be as honest as you can." He'd expected her to blush and start fidgeting. Maybe stutter a bit and look around the room at anything but him.

He _really_ needed to learn not to compare Ichigo to other girls- truly he did.

"I'm thinking that I don't like that you stopped kissing me. Especially since your very good at it. And I like your hands. You have really nice ones. Not too rough, not too soft- just...nice. And I'm also wondering if your a boxers, brief's or commando sort of guy. I'm leaning towards commando, myself. I'm also curious about what you look like without a shirt."

It was weird, but for a man who'd been around the block a few times and had more than his fair share of partners- he felt his face flush with embarrassment at her candor. He'd never had anyone say such things so honestly before.

If he could have, he probably would have choked on his own tongue.

Instead he just looked at her for a second fighting with the urge to hide his face and laugh himself silly. Because as much as he appreciated her honesty as far as her thoughts were- they were totally _not_ what he had expected them to be for a once virgin- and he couldn't help but find that a little bit funny.

"You really think those things?" He finally managed to ask. Ichigo shifted herself on the bed and got on her hands and knees and moved her face in as close as she could without falling off of the bed and face first into his crotch.

"I do," She confirmed as she reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck and then said in a sullen tone, "And now I'm thinking that you take too long. I want you naked, and in bed, _now_."

He couldn't have been more_ flabbergasted_ by her words if he tried.

He grabbed her as she tried to practically wrap herself around him like a snake and then set her back on the bed, receiving a barely audible small huff for his efforts. Because apparently she was more impatient for this than he was at the moment.

He tapped her on the tip of the nose to get her attention and then muttered, "Ground rules first. Then we'll get on with it, okay."

She looked back at him with wide eyes and he grinned slightly because her expression was so adorably caught off guard. Like she didn't understand why there were rules for sex or something.

He was doing this out of courtesy for her needs and desires.

The rules would be a guidelines in which he followed to help her feel safe since he wasn't always an easy man in the bedroom. He tended to like partners that could take being roughed up some.

And as long as he didn't cross any lines with his partner, they both left feeling more than a little bit satisfied by the end of their romp between the sheets.

But things had to be different with Ichigo. She was new to this and likely might not appreciate overly aggressive moves because of before. So the clearer the picture he got about what she wanted when they were together, the more likely he wasn't to make a mistake that could hurt them both.

"Okay, rules- they're the basic do's and don'ts in the bedroom. The clearer that you are about what you will and won't do, the better." He briefly explained. Ichigo was oddly quiet, but nodded her head nevertheless.

"Alright, uh...d-do you know what you will and won't do?"

"Anal."

He raised a brow, almost wanting her to explain that one to him. But the peculiar and almost angry look on her face shut that shit down quick.

"O-Okay. Anything else?"

"No blind folds."

"Okay, that's totally doable." He agreed. He wasn't overly fond of being blind folded either. It made you more vulnerable to shit that you normally weren't vulnerable to and tended to make him more than a little bit uncomfortable. "Anything else? Anything that would make you uncomfortable?"

"Nothing that can hurt the baby-" She said before then getting a horrified look on her face as he raised a brow at her and quickly blurting out, "I mean, I know that you wouldn't. I'm not trying to offend or piss you off- but I still feel the need to say it."

He nodded his head, not offended in the least. He was happy that she wasn't so blinded by her own wants and desires that she totally forgot about the safety and wellbeing of their unborn child.

"Alright moving on. Have you ever...uh.. touched-"

"Myself?"

"Yeah that."

"No."

"Then you have no idea what would make you feel good?"

"I have a fair idea." Ichigo said, causing him to ask her if she'd elaborate for him. She did. In great and incredibly _vivid_ detail. So much so that he found himself with his jaw hanging open and his breath leaving him in little pants by the time she finished.

_Good lord_. No wonder she felt no damn shyness, nervousness or shame. Her mind had no fucking filter! He realized as she finally stopped talking and now just sat there, chewing her bottom lip, and waiting for him to say or do something.

And damn if he didn't like the fact that his innocent girl was so frigging dirty minded. He _liked_ it. He liked it a lot.

"What about you? What makes you feel good?" She finally asked him after several heartbeats of silence. He was a little bit startled by the question since people rarely cared what made him feel good in the bedroom.

"Oh, um... I-I have several things that make me feel good," He said awkwardly, wondering if it was a good idea to tell her anything. After all, he had a lot more experience with sex than she did. But he figured that the question was fair since he'd asked the same thing. And she _did_ seem genuinely interested. "I have a couple of kinks that might shock you. But they...uh.. really get me off."

He was blushing now. He couldn't help himself as he weighed the pro's and con's of telling her that he had a pregnancy kink, and a BDSM and breeding kink too since they allowed him to indulge in fantasies that he didn't get to indulge in often.

Still...he wasn't sure if he should tell her that. She was new to this. Uninitiated.

It might freak her out or scare her.

Running a hand through his hair he thought for a moment longer and started to open his mouth to tell her that he was a guy- he could get off on pretty much anything sex related. Because it wasn't really a lie. He could. However she seemed to sense what he was about to do because she quickly blurted out, "No fibbing."

"Ah- yeah, okay." He said in a slightly uneasy tone before then saying, "I'm not one hundred percent sure that I should mention my..."

"You're kinks?"

"Yeah. They're sort of...not for newbies."

"So basically you don't want to tell me what they are because you don't think that I should know. Either because it embarrasses you or you feel that it would make me uncomfortable."

He gave her a frazzled look. Deciding to not dignify her words with any sort of response in the hopes that she would get the hint and drop it. But she didn't.

Instead she started to name all kinds of different kinks in an effort to weed his out with a slightly curious/devious look on her pretty face.

She must have mentioned at least a dozen kinks and fetishes before finally coming to spanking- at which point he visibly twitched. And she gave him an amused smile before continuing on. By the time she reached his actual kinks- he was practically sweating bullets and trying desperately to school his expression.

He must have done a shitty job. Because she still found out. And instead of freaking out on him like he had expected her to do. She merely huffed a small laugh at his expense before finally saying, "Relax. You aren't the first person that I've known with those urges. My best friend Chad is similar. And I've had the misfortune of walking in on him a few times. I'll say this for the guy- how he doesn't have at least a dozen children by now is beyond my comprehension."

Clint parted his lips to ask her if she was really okay with knowing about his kinks when she took a deep breath and then smiled sweetly up at him and asked in a breathy tone, "So, how about it? Wanna indulge those a bit?"

He shed his clothing so quickly that he didn't even realize what he was doing until he pounced on her and knocked her down. Ichigo giggled at his eagerness until he took her mouth in the most hungry, toe curling kiss that he'd ever given anyone before in his life, effectively stealing her breath.


	14. Chapter 14

**You aren't getting any smut until later, until then all I can do is hint at it. **

**Sorry.**

* * *

Clint was riding out his latest climax with his fingers wrapped around Ichigo's throat, carefully watching her expression for anything negative that might lead him to be banned from her bedroom. Among other things.

He really shouldn't worry so much since she was about as_ far_ from a simpering miss, as any one female could be. Which was a fact that he rather enjoyed about her.

Slowly removing his hand from her neck, he took a moment to grasp her chin in his fingers and tilt her head this way and that to double check to see if he'd accidentally left any marks on her and then once he was satisfied that he hadn't, he then shifted his body a little bit so that he could lean down and kiss her lips.

Slowly, and sweetly. Trying to show her with his actions rather than his words just how much he appreciated her letting him play out his fantasies with her.

He'd say this for her- the girl was a damned trooper.

She'd let him be as gentle and as rough as he needed to be and hadn't complained once. She had taken everything he'd had and then some. And had given just as good as she had gotten too.

He'd probably have some bruises over his own on his shoulders and wrists from when she had gotten fed up with his teasing and had rolled him under her and had pinned him down and taken her pleasure while he'd watched her in voiceless anticipation.

She'd been _beautiful_.

Not that she wasn't already- but...he'd liked watching her take what she wanted from him. He'd loved it in fact. Watching her ride him until she came on his cock had made him that much harder and needy for her.

He didn't know how long they had been in the bedroom, screwing like a couple of rabbits- and frankly he didn't give a damn. All he knew right now was that he wanted to run a warm bath for her and let her wash up a bit since he'd sort of made a mess of her, her bed, and just about anything else in the general vicinity.

Once she cleaned up, he wanted her to nap for a little bit while he went downstairs and fixed them both something to eat since she was likely to be very, very hungry later and he refused to let her or their baby starve just because he was a horny bastard.

Pressing his lips against the side of her throat and then her shoulder, he slowly eased himself out of her, noticing the weird full body twitch that she did as he moved away before grabbing the edge of the covers and pulling them up over her so that she wouldn't feel cold.

"I'm going to run you a bath so that you can clean up some," He said softly, noting that her eyes were glazed over when she looked at him. Her glazed over stare was a lingering after effect of her last orgasm. And damn, if his masculine ego didn't get a real kick out of knowing that she was still blissed out. "Do you want me to change the sheets on the bed while you're bathing?" He asked curiously.

He'd noted early on when he slept with someone that usually they didn't like laying or being covered in bodily fluids for very long. Something about it grossing them out? He couldn't help wondering if Ichigo was similar. But whether she was or not, he wanted her to be comfortable.

"You can if you want. There's some clean sheets and comforters in the closet."

He noted the way that she replied and cocked his head a little bit. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her if she really didn't care. But he thought better of it since she never seemed to do what he expected her too anyways. So instead he nodded his head and then bent down and grabbed his pants up off of the floor and slipped them on before walking into her bathroom and grabbing what he needed to run her a nice bath.

He was pretty sure that after a lengthy romp like theirs had been- there was a good chance that she would be sore and stiff later if she didn't soak a little bit.

He managed to get the water running okay. But couldn't find anything to make the water bubbly since he was used to the women that he slept with liking bubble baths.

Again, he really should stop comparing her to others. But for some reason he couldn't stop drawing parallels. So instead he grabbed a bottle of shampoo and looked at it to see if it was scented and then used some of it to make the water bubbly.

The whole bathroom smelled like magnolia's and peonies. It was...nice.

And he couldn't help but think of how he wouldn't mind smelling magnolia's and peonies for the rest of his life. Of course once the thought slithered through his mind, he ruthlessly squashed it as he tested the water for a moment with his hand to see if it was comfortable enough without being scalding.

Once that was done, he turned the water off and then turned and made his way back into the bedroom and made semi quick work of pulling Ichigo up from the tangled mess of bed sheets, liking the way that she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder as he carried her into the bathroom and carefully placed her in the water.

She made a weird hissing sound that gave him pause for a moment. Not long, just long enough to ask her if she was okay and get a small nod in response before she muttered against his neck, "Sorry. I think the water startled me."

"That's alright," He said as she slowly released him and laid back against the back of the tub with a sigh. "Does the water feel good?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

He nodded his head and then leaned over the side of the tub to press a kiss to her forehead and then pulled away and said, "You just hang out here and splash around a bit and relax. I'll go change the sheets on the bed and grab you something to wear and then I'll be back."

"Okay."

He slipped out of the bathroom to let her relax and soak for a little bit and went straight to stripping the bed and putting the dirty covers and sheets in a hamper. Or at least what he thought was a hamper.

He had to check it to make sure that it wasn't a waste basket before putting the dirty bundle in it. If she got pissed at him for putting them in the wrong place later he was going to die of mortification.

After making the bed, he took a moment to check on Ichigo and smiled a little bit when he saw that she was almost done since she was starting to doze a little bit. He moved over to her dresser to grab her some clothes. Finding a comfortable, overly large shirt and some panties he grabbed them both and then walked into the bathroom and knelt down next to the tub after setting them on the counter, and pulled the plug to let the water out.

Ichigo cracked an eye open and smiled at him as he reached into the remaining water and slipped his arms around her and lifted her out of the tub.

"Where do you keep your towels?" He asked as he set her down on the counter to grab her one.

"Oh, uh..." She started to point to a little shelf hanging on the wall, but paused when she noticed that it didn't have anything but wash rags on it and flushed before saying awkwardly, "_Whoops_. I must have forgotten to wash them earlier."

Clint blinked at her, not really knowing how to react to her words for a moment and then cracked up laughing as she muttered something about drip drying?

She watched him laugh for several moments, her lips twitching slightly in amusement as he finally managed to pull himself together and ask, "Are there any towels in the guest bathroom?"

"I think so since no one really uses it."

He snorted, "I'll go and check then. Just...stay put and try not to drip dry on anything that you like." He chuckled as he left the bathroom to go to the guest bathroom and check it. Sure enough- there were towels._ Thank god_. He thought to himself with a roll of his eyes as he grabbed one and then headed back.

Ichigo was still sitting where he had left her, wringing out her hair like it was a wet rag or something. The adorable little savage. He chuckled again as he re-entered the bathroom and unfolded the large fluffy piece of cloth and wrapped it around her shoulders as she abruptly dropped her damp hair and tried to look like she hadn't been wringing it out and making a mess on the tiled floor.

"I saw that." He teased as he watched her wrap herself up in the towel and partially hide her face.

"Whatever, man. You were obviously seeing things."

"So you weren't just ringing out your hair like an uncivilized heathen then?"

"No." She said quickly. He grinned.

"Go ahead and finish drying off and get dressed. I've already changed the bed sheets and stuff. So if you want to lay back down and nap for a little bit..."

"I would like to. But I don't think that I should. It's getting sort of late and I need to fix us dinner."

"I can fix it while you rest." He offered.

"Isn't it rude for me to take a nap while I have company over?"

"Not after what we did, it isn't." He assured her as he reached out and tucked a few damp strands of hair behind her ear.

"I'll do it on two conditions," He leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and waited. "First, don't burn my house down." His lips twitched but he said nothing. He figured that he'd surprise her with his awesome cooking skills. Especially after Nat had signed him up for cooking classes several years ago to keep him from eating take out and junk food all the time. "And second, you can cook if I can curl up on the couch instead."

"I'd rather you rest in the bed, sweetheart. But...if you want to curl up on the couch, then at least let me make it comfy for you."

"It's a good couch, Clint. It's practically put me in semi comas before just stretching out on it."


	15. Chapter 15

**Uryu finally appears and isn't the bad guy that he's seemed previously in other chapters.**

* * *

Ichigo hadn't been lying about the couch. Literally not even two minutes after she'd laid down on it; she was out like a light. Clint thought to himself in amusement as he went back to fixing their dinner.

He'd looked through everything that she'd had sitting in the fridge and the freezer. And had finally decided on making a nice seafood dinner for them both since she wouldn't be able to eat much fish later on in her pregnancy. Plus, it was one of the things that he'd learned to cook at the cooking class- and he really wanted to_ wow_ her.

He'd already made a nice salad and some dinner rolls to eat with everything else. And was currently working on finishing up cooking the shrimp, scallops, stuffed mussels and the lobster tails, and clam chowder that he'd found and couldn't help but occasionally sneak a glance towards Ichigo every now and then.

She was lying on her side on the couch with a cushion clutched in one of her hands, hanging off of the edge of the chair. Her expression was relaxed, her breathing shallow- he kept wanting to go and check on her. Which was a little bit weird, but he couldn't seem to help it any.

Protective instinct and all that.

She was the mother of his unborn child, after all. He couldn't help but feel protective of them both.

Finishing up what he was doing, he pulled the food off of the stove and placed the cooked seafood on some plates and then carried them over to the medium sized dinning room table. Setting the dishes down, he went about collecting the others and then setting the table.

He tried to find candles to make the dinner a little more...romantic. But for fuck's sake- Ichigo had to be the _one_ damned female in all of god's creation that didn't own any candles for romantic dinners!

He was so frustrated by the end of his search that he almost started cussing.

As it was, candles was just another thing on the steadily growing list of things_ necessary_ to spoil his girl. Well, candles, bubble bath stuff, clean towels and a few other things. The top of the list was naturally taken by hot chocolate since he had a weird feeling that Ichigo was probably a _lot_ like Tony when he didn't get his coffee fix.

Years of experience of dealing with a coffee deprived Tony had taught him to _never_ allow someone else to go without. It was hazardous to his health to do so. The many times that Tony has attempted to use him for target practice, just proved it.

Sighing, he decided to give up on the candles and go and wake Ichigo up. But upon turning around, he found her gone from the couch. Which was odd since he hadn't even heard her move to even shift her body. And the couch was squeaky. He'd heard it earlier when she'd laid down on it!

So the fact that he hadn't heard her shift herself, much less get up and disappear on him struck him as more than a little bit strange. After all, no one moved that quietly unless they had exceptional stealth skills.

And as quiet as his girl was, she tended to make noise when she moved.

Frowning a little bit, he started to move towards the living room area to see where she had gone when he felt something hard- a gun? No- a shotgun? make itself known to him by pressing directly between his shoulder blades. He stilled and felt his heart plummet, fearing that maybe he had been wrong about Ichigo when all of a sudden he heard a masculine voice demand, "Where's Ichigo?"

Blinking Clint slowly turned his head to see who had caught him by surprise and frowned again upon seeing a blue-black haired young man with glasses, wearing a weird white outfit staring him down.

"Who the he-" He started to ask who he was, but was forced to shut his mouth when the shot gun was shoved roughly into the underside of his jaw. Gritting his teeth to hold back his yelp of discomfort, Clint put his hands up and tried to figure out a way to disarm the bastard before Ichigo showed back up from..._wherever_ since he seemed to be after her.

Once his hands were up, he slowly turned himself around to see the man better and was shocked to see that he wasn't even twenty yet. A kid? A kid was holding him at gunpoint? _Why?_ He wondered.

The boy must have read his expression. "I want Ichigo. Where is she?"

"Ichigo?"

"Who else. As far as I know, she hasn't moved-" _She will once this fiasco is over with._ Clint thought darkly to himself. He'd pack her up and move her to the tower himself. Kicking and screaming if he had too. And he'd have Bucky act as her bodyguard too. Well, him _and_ Steve. He wasn't going to take any chances with her or their baby! He'd tell her to use the two super soldiers as meat shields if she must.

The boy suddenly said, "You don't seem like her type." Simultaneously catching Clint off guard and insulting him at the same time.

He glowered at the kid. Silently willing his head to burst into flames as he saw Ichigo slip back into the room behind the kid. He was careful not to let it show and the boy nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt fingers close around his throat from behind.

"Wha- Ichigo?"

"How's it going Uryu?" She asked, her tone frigid as ice. Clint kept his hands up since the boy still had the gun jammed up under his jaw. At least until she reached out and jerked it away from him with one hand while keeping the other firmly in place around the kid's throat in a threatening manner.

Clint dropped his hands after absently rubbing the soreness from his jaw as Ichigo released the kid, spun and placed herself between himself and the boy while jerking the gun from his hand.

"I came here to kill you Ichigo."

"No you didn't. You're totally lacking in murderous intent." Clint heard Ichigo snipe back at the boy as she unloaded the shot gun and then- much to his dismay and shock- snapped it into pieces with her _bare hands_.

The barrel, the wood- all of it. Just...in pieces.

Clint couldn't help his jaw hanging open at the sight as she tossed the pieces of the former weapon down as the kid shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "It's an off day for me." Was all that he said. As if that explained_ anything_ at all.

Clint wasn't satisfied with the boy's answer. But Ichigo seemed to realize something that he didn't.

"You look hungry and tired, asshole. How long has it been since you tried to eat or sleep?" Clint cast her a wide eyed look and then thinned his lips in displeasure.

"You act as if eating and sleeping is a priority for me. Have you ever tried to eat or sleep after someone you loved di-" He stopped talking as he saw something in Ichigo's expression. Even Clint nervously looked over at her to see what had him going silent on them. Though he couldn't really see anything truly noteworthy at the moment. "Ah- right. Sorry. I forgot about that." The boy muttered awkwardly.

Ichigo merely hummed.

"We're having seafood for dinner. You're welcome to stay and eat something. And if you want to crash for a few hours, you can take the guestroom upstairs. Clint or I can wake you up in a few hours so that you can go home." Clint made a choking noise and looked at her as if she were _insane_.

I mean, he couldn't fathom why his girl- his _pregnant_ girl- would ask the kid to stay. He'd come marching into her home with a fucking gun for crying out loud! And had jammed it up under his jaw! If anything she should be calling the cops or letting him bust a cap in his skinny ass.

But no- she had to go and invite the little bastard to their semi-romantic dinner! Clint was beyond incensed. He just couldn't believe that she'd invite someone who came into her home intent on harming her to fucking dinner.

"Ichigo-" He started to tell her that no- the kid wasn't joining them. He didn't fucking care who he was or what his problem was- he didn't want him there- however she stopped him by reaching out and running her fingers through his hair and looking him over before then saying.

"You have to apologize to Clint before you can stay. I don't think he appreciated you pulling a shot gun on him."

"Huh. Oh, right. Sorry...Clint."

Clint didn't say anything to him, he just glared at him until he felt himself being elbowed and looked over at Ichigo again and saw her slowly shake her head no. He gnashed his teeth in anger and made a growling sound and then grabbed her and planted a punishing kiss on her lips and then abruptly released her and moved to stand right behind her like a menacing shadow.

"Come on Uryu." Ichigo said with a small sigh.

She could already tell that Clint was unhappy with the current turn of events and while she couldn't exactly blame him any- Uryu obviously needed something. Aside from food and sleep. A friendly ear maybe?

To help him sort himself out. And out of respect for him and their many, _many_ escapades- it was her job to listen and help him if she could.

"Why don't you go ahead and go have a seat, Uryu. I need to speak with Clint for a moment."

"Sure." Uryu said quietly as he wandered over to the table and grabbed a chair and then gracelessly dropped himself into it as Ichigo grabbed Clint's arm and tugged him along behind her as she started down the hallway to another room.

Clint let her manhandle him into the room and then shut the door before turning around and looking at him and then visibly cringed.

"I know that you're mad-" She started but he merely gave her a pissed look that had her cringing again and quickly amending, "Furious," That sounded somewhat close to what he was feeling at the moment, but it still wasn't right. "Okay livid," That was more like it. "And you have every right to be because he pulled a gun on you-" He wasn't looking at all impressed with her hasty explanation at the moment. "But Uryu and I go way back. We grew up together, and even I can recognize when he's making a cry for help."

He just stared at her for a moment, not really trusting himself to say anything that wasn't scathing when he finally realized what she'd just said. "You two know each other." He'd forgotten that they'd called each other by name earlier.

She nodded her head slowly and awkwardly explained. "He's a cousin on my mom's side of the family. W-We just found out about it last year. Up until then, we were schoolmates and frenemies."

"He came into your house with a gun." He growled out. Not caring one way or another about their previous history.

"Yeah, I know." She snapped back at him. "The damned idget didn't even take the fucking safety off." He blinked at her for a second and then narrowed his eyes a little bit before she then said, "Besides, if he'd actually come here intending to kill me- he would have taken you out first to draw me out. He wouldn't have been _nice_ about it either. He also doesn't need a gun since he knows that being shot by one just pisses me off."

"Wha?" He said in an incredulous tone.

"Uryu is like Yoruichi and the others. He's...a little more than the average human."

"He has abilities." It wasn't a question. He already knew that Yoruichi wasn't exactly human. And her other friends weren't either. Tony had been trying to dig up all kinds of dirt on the lot of them ever since the group had shown up to get Ichigo. He'd been bordering on obsessed about it too.

"He does." Ichigo confirmed. Clint glared at her for a moment before suddenly blurting out.

"This is the last weekend you're living here."

"What?!"

"You're coming back to the tower with me." The words, _Where I can keep an eye on you_, went unsaid but were heavily implied.

"That's not fair!"

_"Ichigo!"_ He snapped at her, his voice raising a little bit along with his frustration and ire. She flinched at the sound of his angry voice and glared at him mutinously. "You're pregnant with my baby, little girl. I don't want you where I can't take care of you and protect you. You're moving into the tower with me after this weekend and that's final."

Ichigo continued to glare at him even as he reached out and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest before he heard her mutter, "You act like most of the people I know have never threatened to kill me before." And growled before hissing out.

"You aren't helping yourself."

"I'm not trying to. Just because I'm pregnant with your baby doesn't mean that you can issue orders about what I will and won't do."

"Wanna bet." He snarled without moving his chin from it's resting place on top of her head. His mind already going over what he'd have to do to get her to come back to the tower with him. Smirking evilly over the top of her head, he made a mental note to call Barnes and Nat later on tonight to get them on board with his plan.

His poor, sweet _naïve_ girl would never know what hit her.


	16. Chapter 16

Dinner with Ichigo and her friend was..._informative_ to say the least. Clint thought to himself as he shifted his gaze from the kid to his girl and then back again. He'd been doing this throughout their meal.

He felt it necessary that he be careful not to take his eyes off the boy for much longer than it took to blink. For obvious reasons. While simultaneously checking to make sure that Ichigo managed to eat anything that was on her plate. And then sneaking some of his food onto it when she wasn't looking to assure himself that she was eating even more.

For the baby's sake.

So far, he'd learned a little bit more about Ichigo's 'military' career. As well as probable reasons why she had retired. And had figured out that the boy was one of her former teammates. Which is part of the reason _why_ it now made sense that she'd invited him to dinner after his earlier stunt.

To a leader- their team was everything. Their friends, comrades in arms- and in most cases even thought of as their family.

The care of one's team was drilled into the mind of the team leader from the beginning. Before they were even given a team of their own. How they functioned, and cared for their lives and general wellbeing of their teammates reflected on them.

Which explained a lot.

After all, Ichigo had been a high ranking officer. And despite no longer being part of the military, she probably still cared a great deal about her teammates.

"You never told me when you started dating." The boy said as he sipped his drink and eyed Clint strangely.

"I didn't know that I needed to tell anyone that I was dating."

The boy hummed and set his glass down before saying, "You do. It was agreed upon at a secret meeting."

"Why?"

"Because."

"That's a terrible answer. Infuriating even." Ichigo said with a frown before then demanding that he elaborate.

"We just...never really pictured you as someone who would date someone. You never had any interest in guys. Or girls. Ikkaku has been trying to prove for years that you're secretly an alien."

"Is that why he randomly shows up here and hides in the trees and stuff and takes pictures?"

Clint made a weird strained sound in the back of his throat upon hearing this and turned his head as subtly as he could to look out the window behind her. His keen eyes searching for someone hiding amongst the trees and foliage in her yard.

Upon finding none, he made a mental note to look again later.

"Hn. Something about needing evidence."

"Why would he tell you that?"

"To throw me off of the possibility that he's jacking himself to them, I would imagine."

Ichigo scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Ew. TMI."

The boy sniggered for a moment before finally saying, "I know. I was grossed out myself after the thought occurred to me. You should have seen how Chad reacted to the same thing. He damned near put Ikkaku in traction."

"Good for him."

"_Wow_. No remorse whatsoever... I'm not sure why I'm so surprised, all I know is that I am. You usually show more remorse for the suffering of others."

"Others don't usually take pictures of me and do god knows what with them."

"Touche. So- when did you start dating?" Ichigo looked a little bit startled by the reemergence of the same question and cast an uncharacteristically shy glance his way as she chewed her lower lip.

"We're what you want us to be Ichigo." He said, hoping to assure her that he was okay with whatever label she wanted to give their relationship for now.

"Clint and I...just decided to officially date today." Ichigo said tentatively as he reached over and wrapped his fingers around her own in an encouraging manner and gave her small hand a slight squeeze.

"Really?" The boy asked before grinning. "That's great! It's about time you decided to grow up and stop acting like all guys had cooties." Before he then asked, "Does this have something to do with the baby?"

Ichigo blushed. And Clint cast a steely eyed look at him as if he were _daring_ him to say or do anything stupid. He already didn't like the kid. He'd rip his fucking lungs out if he upset Ichigo. He didn't give a damn who the boy was to her or how pissed she'd likely get at him for it.

It would be totally worth it.

But then an odd thought struck him- how did the kid know about the baby?

"How did you-" Clint started to demand how the kid knew about Ichigo being pregnant when she suddenly chimed in and explained,

"He can sense it Clint. From the moment of conception to the moment of death- he can sense life and it's current state."

"Yeah. I can practically feel it's 'heartbeat' from here. And considering that it's too new to even have one yet, that's really saying something." Uryu said as he ran one of his fingers lazily around the rim of his glass before suddenly saying. "Speaking of saying something. Ichigo, I owe you an apology for the past few weeks. A-At the funeral and stuff. I-I said such horrible things and even blamed you for surviving... I shouldn't have done that."

"Or sent the threatening letters and dead animals."

Clint looked at her again as if she were crazy. His blood almost freezing in his veins upon hearing this little tid bit or information.

"Yeah that too. I know that I can't justify any of it. Trying to would be wrong. I-I just...I've felt so lost since Orihime- And as much as I want revenge. I can't think of any way to _find_ the ones responsible. I've been using you as an outlet for my anger and my grief and rage. And for that, I am sorry."

Ichigo was silent for a moment. Clint sat there trying to wrap his head around everything just said and then glanced over at her.

_She really is too damned nice for her own good._ He thought as he finally realized another reason why she had decided to allow him to stay for dinner. She had been right. His actions _were_ a cry for help.

"It's fine Uryu. It isn't as if your the first person to ever treat me that way or threaten my life."

Another chilling revelation. Clint figured that by now the 'chilling revelation' tally had to be well over two dozen. And he was not okay with that.

"I still shouldn't have done it. Even if I know that you can handle the punishment without breaking- it doesn't make what I did right."

Ichigo shrugged. "I knew what was going on from the beginning Uryu. I knew that you needed to vent. It's part of the reason that I haven't had the police breathing down your neck. Besides, it's out of character for someone like you to turn on someone without good reason-" He opened his mouth to say something but she made a hand motion that had him slowly shutting his mouth. "Orihime- while a good reason- wouldn't have wanted us to fight each other. You know it and I know it. So it's fine."

The kid looked away from them and brought a hand up to remove his glasses and wipe at his eyes before saying, "You're one of the good ones Ichigo. Really... I-I should probably leave before I start crying and embarrass us both." He stood up and slowly stepped back and pushed his chair in and then made a beeline for the front door and before Ichigo could so much as ask him if he was okay, he was gone.


	17. Chapter 17

"So...I'm guessing that by the way you tore that shotgun to pieces that you aren't exactly a 'normal' human either." It wasn't a question. Even Clint knew that there was no way that a non-superhuman could be in charge of a group of highly trained military superhumans.

Even with her higher rank- all it took was a mutiny of one to create _chaos_ amongst the ranks. And with chaos, came trouble and even potentially life threatening danger.

Ichigo twitched, but otherwise didn't respond to his inquiry.

If she could get away with not saying anything, then she would for as long as her luck held out.

"Ichigo," He growled at her. She blinked at him. As cute as it was that she wanted to protect her secret by playing dumb, he was the father of her child and had a right to know if their kid was likely to be a super human when it was born. "Tell me the truth. Here and now. Is the baby going to be..." He wanted to say the words, _like you_, however couldn't bring himself to utter them. The words sounded wrong. Almost like an accusation or as if he wouldn't care for the baby or even love it because it wasn't a normal human.

Ichigo sighed and looked more than a little bit sad and it was all that Clint could do not to quickly assure her that regardless of whether their baby was human or a super human- he _would_ love it. All he wanted was for it to be healthy.

Though having some information that he wasn't prior to would go a long way to help him come up with an idea of what to expect. And even how to better care for the child.

"If it's a girl...it will probably have latent psychic abilities just like every other girl born to my family. The girls in my family sort of straddle the fence somewhere between psychic's and mediums. If it's a boy- it'll likely have abilities akin to Uryu's. Not quiet as strong. I mean, it takes time for abilities to evolve beyond what they would be born with. But at the same time, there is a very strong chance that they'll be normal."

"Wait, wait, wait- Psychic? Mediums? As in,_ I see dead people_, kind of stuff?" Clint asked for clarification. He wanted to be absolutely certain that he'd heard her right.

She thinned her lips and slowly nodded her head. His eyes widened a little bit and his asked in a strained voice, "Y-You see dead people? Like actually, honest to god- they have no bodies or pulses- dead people?"

She nodded her head again and he found himself thoughtlessly blurting out, "Prove it." Ichigo flinched a little bit but nodded her head nevertheless. Making him feel like an ass for blurting out the words without thinking. After all, if she was born with the ability to see dead things- then she would have no way to actually prove it to him.

Which probably made her feel like crap since admitting such things to others was usually met with a great deal of skepticism and often times cruelty.

"Shit," He muttered as he covered his mouth. He wanted to apologize for being so careless. But she'd already gotten up and walked away from the table and into the living room where he could hear her messing around with something a few seconds before she came back to the table and set something in front of him.

Well, two somethings.

One was a file with her name on it. It was something that you would find at the police office. The file was thick, and obviously held a lot of stuff in it. And the second thing looked like it was an old photo album.

She tapped the file and said, "Page one." And then tapped the album and muttered, "Page thirteen." And then reached out and started to collect the dishes.

"Wait, Ichigo-" He started to apologize to her, but the words died on his tongue when she wouldn't even look at him. Sighing as she picked up the dishes and then left him alone so do the dishes while he looked through the stuff- he made a mental note to be more careful about what he said to her from now on about her 'abilities'. He didn't want her pushing him away because she was upset with him for being an ass.

He'd have to keep anything that he found a secret from the others too. He didn't want any of them knowing whatever he found out. Especially since it wasn't any of their business.

Looking away from Ichigo's back as she filled the sink with water, he made a mental note to make this up to her later. Maybe get her some more hot chocolate? As he opened the file up first and blinked at the old and slightly faded news paper clippings that he found.

In the clippings that he found, Ichigo was between eight and ten years old. She was surrounded by police officers and as he scanned the headlines above the pics he felt as if he'd been punched in the gut.

**Local girl helps police solve heinous serial murders that went unsolved for twenty years. **

He wasn't sure how long he spent pouring over the evidence of Ichigo's psychic abilities. Or those of her late mother Misaki, but by the time he finally decided that he believed her- the dishes had been done for a while and Ichigo had wandered off somewhere to be alone.

Making him feel even more like an ass than before.

Getting up from his seat at the table, he went to track her down and found her in the bedroom, curled up asleep. Apparently deciding to call it an early night.

Huffing softly, he ran his fingers though his hair and then slowly walked back downstairs, where he grabbed the land line and thought to call one of his friends for advice on how to get on her good side again and maybe con her into moving into the tower where he wouldn't have to worry about crazy people with guns walking into her home every other day or so.

Dialing the only person that he could think of that might be able to advise him without steering him wrong, he put the phone up to his ear and listened as the phone rang until he hear someone pick up the other end of the line and say, "Who is calling me from an unknown number?"

The sound of AC/DC was blaring loudly in the background as Clint took a deep breath and then said. "Hey Tony. Gotta minute?"


	18. Chapter 18

**I don't know if this chap fits the story or not. **

**I have an abscess and it's really, really, _really_ painful and if it doesn't burst between now and tomorrow morning I will be going to the hospital. So- if the chap sucks, all I can do is apologize for now. **

**I have other things on my mind.**

* * *

Clint hung up the phone, ending the last call that he'd made more than an hour later. Tony had been oddly helpful, in his own Tony-esqe way. Of course, he had many, _many_ years of 'fucking up' experience to draw on which was why he had been the ideal person to speak with about how he'd messed up with Ichigo.

He'd told him what had occurred between them- without managing to spill her secret to the man since he couldn't keep his damned mouth shut to save his fucking life. And had only had to pause once or twice when Tony had interrupted him to ask if Ichigo was mentally ill since he'd accidentally let it slip that they had...done stuff.

Once he had assured Tony that Ichigo wasn't in fact mentally ill, and was in full control of _all_ mental faculties the man had given him several options to choose from to make things up to her.

He could get on his knees and beg for forgiveness.

Which was currently at the top of the list considering that he was still planning to move her into the tower tomorrow and had even already called Bucky and Steve to help him. Both men had told him that they would be there first thing in the morning to get started.

After which he had to call Nat and ask her to come with them to help, via tranquilizers since he very much doubted that Ichigo was simply going to let him do as he pleased without a fight. Plus, by drugging her- he could move her safely and effectively without _any_ kind of stressful arguments or fights that could be bad for the baby.

Of course he had no idea how she would handle being drugged. Which was why Tony would have a medical team on standby back at the tower. And she would probably tear him limb from limb when she woke up and realized what he had done- but hopefully she would forgive him if he got on his knees and begged.

I mean, she'd been pretty forgiving of him so far.

And he'd done some terrible and unforgivable things to her.

He'd raped and hurt her, knocked her up... God now that he really thought about it he should have been on his knees to begin with. Their relationship was definitely a rocky one and likely would continue to be for a while yet.

Wondering if he should go up and curl up beside her for the night or just stay put and try sleeping on the couch, he sat down and turned on the TV to try and find something to watch so that he could clear his mind a little bit. He found a Walking Dead marathon. The latest season in the series, and settled down to watch it.

He must have managed to watch at least five or so episodes, the day had turned to night and the time was approaching ten thirty p.m. when Ichigo came stumbling down the stairs, alarming him somewhat.

He jumped up from his seat and was across the room in a flash- a new record for him considering that he wasn't exactly built for speed- and bounded up the remaining steps to grab her before she somehow managed to trip over her own feet and fell.

Scooping his sleepy girl up in his arms, he took a moment to let her wrap her arms around his neck as he turned and made his way back down the stairs and walked back over to the couch before gently placing her down on it. She seemed reluctant to let him go as he drew back a bit. Her arms were still around his neck, more or less anchoring him in place in an awkward position.

"Uh...sweetheart?" He said after a moment or so. She made a weird sound and slowly let him go, though he noticed that she kept her hands on him in some fashion.

Straightening his spine a little bit so that he could look at her, he noted that she had a glazed look in her pretty eyes and her hair and shirt were both slightly damp. _Did she have a nightmare of some kind?_ He wondered as he reached out to frame her face in his hands and study her face a little more thoroughly.

"Hey, want to tell me what you're doing up?" He finally asked in a soft coaxing tone. She blinked at him and took a moment to look him over and then scan the room around them almost anxiously before returning her focus to him and simply saying,

"Couldn't sleep." Even he could tell that that was a partial lie.

"Did you have a nightmare or something?" He asked as he smoothed her bangs back from her face. She hummed but didn't really respond. Taking it as confirmation, he moved himself to sit beside her so that he could take her in his arms but paused for a moment as it occurred to him that he had an idea of how to help her with this. "I'll be right back sweetheart. I'm going to fix you some hot chocolate and then I'll be right back."

He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't somewhat pleased by how quickly she seemed to perk up a bit at the promise of getting some hot chocolate.

His task barely took two minutes, and by the time he finished and returned to where he left her, Ichigo seemed a little bit more awake now. Handing her the mug of hot chocolate that he'd made for her, he watched her with an odd sense of satisfaction as she took a sip and smiled.

"Is it good?" He asked as he sat down next to her.

"Yeah. Thanks." She said as she took another sip and slowly leaned back to make herself more comfortable and settled herself against his side and let him wrap an arm around her.

The two of them were quiet for a little bit when he suddenly asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ichigo set her empty cup aside and then leaned against him a little more before slowly saying, "I had a nightmare about Aizen."

"You've mentioned him before. That day in the infirmary while we were talking," She nodded her head curtly and Clint felt somewhat encouraged to ask. "Who was he?"

Ichigo took a deep breath. "He was a monster." Clint looked down at her and frowned. He'd met a lot of monsters in his time both as a Shield agent and an Avenger. So having the man described as such didn't help him much.

"What did he do?"

"He did a lot of things," Ichigo said cryptically. "I first ran into him when I was fourteen. He'd killed a bunch of people and pretended to take their place and handed down a death sentence for my friend Rukia. We didn't know it at the time, but Rukia had something inside of her- a...object of power-"

"An object of power?" Clint asked, not knowing what exactly she meant. There were a lot of weird things in the world that qualified as objects of power.

"Alien tech," Ichigo amended deciding on another explination so that he could understand better. "It was a form of alien tech." He made a humming sound but waited for her to further elaborate. "The tech is from an alternate dimension- not too unlike our own. In fact our world and theirs sort of co-inhabit the same space. Which is where the tech came from to begin with. It's usually kept in a very secure location, behind locks, and intricate systems and alarms that could put Fort Knox to shame. However the people charged with protecting it, decided to move it- and were all attacked and killed."

"The tech was supposedly lost. However, it's creator had decided to take it after the attack knowing that it would still be hidden. He took it and brought it here to earth and placed in inside of the body of a teenage girl."

"This sounds suspiciously like a more modernized Grimm fairy tail."

Ichigo turned her head just enough to bite him. He jumped at the contact of her teeth closing around one of his nipples and yelped before falling silent again as he absently rubbed the sore spot with his free hand.

"Anyways, I first met Rukia a few months before I turned fourteen. She was a little bit of a hoodlum and tended to get herself into trouble. Inevitably she started living with me and my family in secret. Mainly because she had a job to do and part of it was to keep a close eye on me due to how we met and the circumstances that arose from that meeting."

"Aizen, was a really good con man with delusions of becoming a god. He knew that if he had the tech hidden inside of Rukia- his 'wish' just may become a reality since the tech was capable of granting the greatest desire of the person that it synchronized with. In the end, Rukia didn't die. But it was a close thing when he tore the tech out of her body and then threw her aside."

"He sounds like a charming man."

Ichigo scoffed. "He was a dick, pure and simple."

"Okay, go on with the story." He said as he started to absently pet her hair. His mind going over everything that he was hearing, easily weeding out the truth from the lies. It shocked him to realize that there were very little lies attached to the story.

"He killed a lot of people. Started a war- nothing that you would ever see or hear about in the news- but a war nevertheless. He was going to commit mass genocide to achieve his goal of becoming a god..."

"Did he?"

"_He tried_. I mean, he somehow managed to achieve what he'd set out to do without committing mass genocide- but people still got hurt. The tech synchronized with him and was absorbed by him, giving him god-like abilities. He was in the process of chasing down a bunch of kids from my old school..." Clint paid careful attention to whatever she was going to say next since he had a feeling that it was something big.

"He had almost reached them when I stepped between them. He was an arrogant little shit. Thinking that with his new abilities that I wouldn't even be able to touch him. He was wrong. I was able to take him by surprise enough to grab him and push him back. We fought. I managed to get him outside of the city before we started to fight each other."

"He was so impressed by his supposed new power- that it never even occurred to him that the damage being done around us, wasn't because of him. It was because of me." Clint frowned as he looked down at her, the hand petting her hair nearly stilling in mid motion.

"He tried to seal me away in some...black, be-spelled piece of stone. But I shattered it with a touch. And then he got scared that my power was greater than his own and tried to kill me- and I just walked up to him while he was freaking out and I _tore_ the tech out of him. I can sometimes still feel his blood on my hands and hear his manic laughter ringing in my ears. He survived his injuries and he and the tech were locked away. He was executed almost eight months later, during another war, after he managed to escape and was recaptured shortly afterwards."

"Once the war finally ended, and it was peaceful again- I started to lose my abilities. All of them. Which...wasn't totally unexpected. I mean, before I could fight Aizen I had to force my abilities to evolve to a specific point where they could stand against him if he got what he wanted... But at the same time, by doing so, I also sacrificed them. They would remain only for a short time after the fight. And then they would fade to nothing."

"I would be both normal and not normal because the evolution of my abilities would forever change my body in ways that would set me apart. And I was okay with that... I mean, I was anxious and nervous because one of the most important parts of me would be gone. But I think my mom would have understood. I knew that my dad and sisters did. And they were proud."

"My friends were too. Because they knew that not everyone would be able to cast such power and strength aside even for the greater good of others. It takes such strength of character to do what I did- Kisuke tells me that often. So does Yoruichi and Rukia. Anyways...my abilities faded towards the end of the war- when I was still fighting on the front lines. And I got hurt because I couldn't adequately defend myself anymore. I was a burden... I was forcibly retired and sent home while my friends stayed and fought."

He ran his blunt nails along her scalp as he mulled over her words.

"Once the war was over, I was asked to return to receive the honors due to me and my years of service. I didn't want to go because I felt ashamed for not being of more help to everyone. But my dad made me go. I received full honors. Went up a few ranks. Received a full pension for all of my work, and dedication. And I also had part of my group decide that they were going to leave with me."

"Why?"

"Because. Despite the fact that I was retired, they felt that I needed to be watched considering everything that I know and can do. In recent months, Kisuke and I have noticed that some of my abilities have returned. Not many, mind you. But enough to draw attention from outsiders if I'm careless. They stay close to me to keep me out of trouble and protect me if I need them too. And I stay close to them because they_ need_ some sort of supervision. Especially Kisuke. He's...sort of a mad scientist and tends to do stupid stuff in the name of science."

He snorted and slipped his hand down to her chin and used it to tip her head back some so that he could see her face. "Why did you tell me that stuff?"

"Because, you're the father of my baby. And my...boyfriend. And it's simply something that you just need to know."

He got a thoughtful look on his face for a moment and then asked, "The military unit that you were the head of- They were from the alternate dimension, weren't they?"

"Yeah."

"You're friends-"

"Yeah. Kisuke, Rukia, Yoruichi, Renji- they all came from there. Myself, Uryu, Chad and Orihime are all from this world originally. We were all born human with latent abilities. We simply..._became_ a small part of that world when we drew their attention with said abilities."

"So you've been there? The other dimension?"

"Yes. And even now- I still talk to those that stayed there to pick up the pieces after the war. Some of the captains like to call me and check up on me. Or just talk. Sometimes ask for advice on how something should be done."

"They sound like good friends. Does the return of you abilities mean that I have to worry on you being called back to fight for them?" He asked, his mind already going over various plans to keep her from leaving by tying her to his bed and having Steve, Nat, and Bucky babysit her if he had too.

"No. Once a person retires their life is their own."

"That's good to know." He said gently as he leaned his head down to press his lips against her forehead as she sighed and wiggled a little bit to make herself more comfortable and then closed her eyes as if she were going to try and go back to sleep where she was for a bit.

She'd given him quite a bit to think about thanks to her story. And to be perfectly honest, he wasn't all that sure how he was going to react to everything once it all soaked in. Knowing that there were other people similar in nature to Loki didn't exactly make him happy. Even if said guy was now dead. Nor did knowing that people from an alternate dimension taking human _kids_ and making them fight their fights, exactly make him happy either.


	19. Chapter 19

Clint stayed up most of the night, just watching the Walking Dead and holding Ichigo and thinking about everything that she had told him. He'd seen and experienced a lot since becoming an Avenger, so he didn't want to just pretend that she had been blowing smoke up his ass about the alternate dimension, her friends and the fighting and such.

And finally after several hours of thinking about everything, finally came to the conclusion- that his girlfriend must be an absolute _badass_.

I mean, she would have to be. To be able to go head to head with a madman hellbent on becoming a _god_, more or less alone, she would have to be.

Wouldn't she?

Looking down at her, he absently stroked her hair for just a little bit longer and then finally decided to call it a night. After turning off the TV, he took a moment to collect Ichigo from her comfortable position lying on him. And then carried her upstairs to the bedroom and put her to bed and then left her to sleep while he went back down stairs to settle himself on her couch.

He doubted that he'd manage to get a wink of rest before the sun rose, and since he knew that first thing in the morning he would likely piss her off again when Steve, Bucky and Nat showed up to help him move her to the tower.

He settled himself down on her couch and was thinking about that when he suddenly conked out. His last coherent thought was, damn the couch was comfy. He'd have to find one just like it for Tony.

He woke up several hours later to the sound of his cellphone ringing and rolled himself off of the couch, and onto the floor with a groan and a dull thud which was followed by insistent knocking coming from the front door.

"Clint!" He heard Steve call out in a weird, whisper-shout kind of tone. "Clint, hey- Are you okay? Open up!"

Blinking once, twice, and then a third time he felt awareness abruptly return and quickly flipped himself up so that he could go and answer the door before Steve or someone else wound up waking Ichigo and making their job that much harder.

Quickly crossing the room to the front door- he yanked it open just as Steve decided to try and knock the door down with his shoulder. Side stepping the man, he let him run himself into the wall behind him and then hit the floor while Bucky and Nat just stood there looking amused.

"We heard a thud. Are you alright?" Nat asked as she stepped over Steve's legs and into the house.

"I'm fine. I was sleeping." He muttered as he moved back a little bit more to allow Bucky inside.

"You're usually an early riser," Bucky said as he reached down to help Steve up. "What had you asleep up till now?"

"It was a long and interesting night." Was all that Clint could manage to say.

He didn't want to tell any of them about Ichigo or her abilities unless it was absolutely necessary. Especially since they would want to test her abilities to see for themselves just how they worked, and it could prove to be hazardous to both her and their baby's health.

"We heard from Tony that you're moving Ichigo into the tower because some guy came in with a shotgun." Steve said once Bucky had him up and on his feet again. Clint hummed and then got a dark look on his face.

"She invited the bastard to dinner Steve."

"Jeez, no wonder you're moving her to the tower," Bucky muttered in an incredulous tone as he shook his head. "I think I'd freak out too if a dame pregnant with my kid did something so stupid."

"Be nice, Buck." Steve hissed at him. "I'm sure that she had her reasons."

Clint bit back a yawn before saying, "He was one of her unit. And is also a distant relative."

_"Oh."_ Both super soldiers said in unison.

"That makes sense." Nat said as she scanned the living room for a moment before then asking, "So, where is the little darling?"

"Upstairs sleeping."

She nodded her head curtly and then looked at Bucky and motioned with her head for him to follow her. Drugging someone while they slept was easy. However she might need some help on the off chance that the girl had woken up thanks to Steve and his knocking and falling and stuff.

The two of them started up the stairs and soon disappeared before Clint finally turned to Steve and said, "Come on. Let's start with the living room. I think she'll want to keep her couch..." Steve merely nodded his head and walked ahead of Clint into the living room.

* * *

Finding Ichigo's bedroom was easy.

The girl was soundly sleeping, curled up in her bed. Totally dead to the world as the two peeked into the room through the small opening in the door.

"The drugs are child friendly, right?" Nat asked cautiously. She couldn't help but worry about this part of Clint's plan. She was _not_ going to sit down and explain to him once the child was born, why it was born with a tail like a little monkey.

Bucky gave her a weird look and then pulled the bottle out of his jacket pocket and pretended to look it over for a second before saying sarcastically, "Yup, it's _totally_ baby safe." Before then saying, "For god's sake, what sort of tranq do you think I'm using? Baby safe. Since when are any kind of drugs really baby safe? I don't have anything baby safe- I have semi-momma safe. But not baby safe."

"That baby better not grow a _tail_," Nat hissed at him. He started to roll his eyes at her but she reached out and grabbed a hand full of his hair and pulled his head back and growled out. "I'm serious Barnes. That baby better not grow a fucking tail from this or I'm telling Clint that everything is _your_ fault."

They stared each other down for a moment and then she slowly released her hold on his hair and allowed him to straighten his spine again and take a much closer look at the label when he thought that she wasn't looking. Apparently the threat of handing him over to Clint when he was pissed about his baby having a tail, was enough to make him want to look again just to double check things.

Finally he shrugged his shoulders and then pulled out the rag that he'd brought with him for this endeavor and slowly uncapped the bottle and doused the rag and then looked at Nat and said in a half serious tone, "If I'm not back in ten minutes...give me a nice send off with some strippers."

She snarled at him as he grinned and then slipped into the room while Nat leaned her back up against the wall and closed her eyes to listen just in case things went tits up.

She didn't have to listen long because either they had woken Ichigo up with their stupid antics or she had simply been awake the entire time and playing possum.

Either way, she couldn't have hidden both the smile- and the full body cringe of sympathy- that she gave when she heard Bucky yelp and go down hard, and hit the floor groaning, _"My dick. Oh my god, my dick-"_

Opening her eyes again, she quickly scanned the hallway for the nearest window, and decided to slip out of it so that she didn't wind up groaning in pain herself.

_Sorry Barnes_.


	20. Chapter 20

Ichigo sighed as she stared down the two men while the whimpering mass at her feet continued to whine about his dick. You know she had had a feeling that Clint would try something stupid, but she had hoped- obviously in vain- that he would leave her be.

After all, she had mentioned to him last night once she had finished her story about Aizen and such just _why_ she couldn't leave. She'd apparently been mistaken about him hearing her.

"So...got anything that either of you want to say before I kick you out of my home?" She finally asked as her eyes flickered from the guy bench pressing her couch, to her boyfriend.

Clint carefully set the coffee table that he'd been carrying, back down at his feet and eyed her warily. While Steve flat out gaped at the whimpering and whining puddle that Bucky had turned into, in slack jawed disbelief.

"Sweetheart-" Clint started to explain at least his part in this since he had been fairly understanding of everything and such. But before he could say anything else Steve dropped the couch- and quite possibly broke it as well as some of her flooring and ran over to her shouting Bucky's name in a panicky tone.

Internally sighing, Clint rubbed at the spot between his eyes where he felt a headache coming on.

Dropping down to his knees next to Bucky, Steve grasped his friend's hand in his own and listened to him sob and cry like he was dying. Which he very well might have been. You could never really tell with Bucky since it was rare that he cried about anything injury related.

"Buck, what happened? What did she do to you?" Steve demanded as he cast a dark look Ichigo's way. She merely rolled her eyes at him and said,

"I caught your friend in my bedroom with a chloroform soaked rag- and you want to know what _I_ did to him? Get you're priorities straight, man." She sounded disappointed. So much so that Steve actually flinched a little bit.

Then again, he may have been flinching because of the whole 'chloroform soaked rag' part too.

"Bucky, you didn't."

And now Steve looked very disappointed in Bucky. It was rare that the man could find any fault with his friend at all, nowadays. But evidently learning that he had been going to chloroform Ichigo was something that Steve frowned upon. _Literally_.

Finally the blond sighed and looked back at her as he said, "Then he deserved to have his dick broken."

Even Clint couldn't suppress the full body cringe he involuntarily gave in sympathy at the mental image those words elicited in his mind. Bucky let out a pitiful sounding whine that Steve quickly shushed. And hissed at him that he deserved the pain that he felt before walking off.

Leaving Clint and Ichigo to stare each other down since Barnes would be absolutely no help whatsoever here as she finally asked, "You got anything to say for yourself?"

"I would have gotten down on my knees and begged you to forgive me later."

"Nothing else?"

"What else can I say? I was going to have you drugged so that I could forcibly move you-"

_"Kidnap."_

"Well, okay yeah. If you want to get technical." Clint muttered, not knowing what else to say since technically she was right. "But in my defense, sweetheart, you live in crazy central. Literally. And I would like for you to be somewhere where I can keep a close eye on you and keep you and our baby _safe_."

"That might have gone a long way towards pleading your case if you had even bothered to try."

"I did!"

"No, you barked out an order and expected it to be obeyed no matter what I _thought_ or how I _felt_ about it."

"T-That's not- I mean- Look you're seventeen-" He could have kicked himself for daring to even try and start an argument by bringing up her age. Because truly that had to be one of the most _stupid_ agrument's in the history of arguments.

Ichigo must have realized what he had been about to say, because he could practically see the fury dancing in her eyes despite the fact that her expression and body language remained eerily calm as she said in an equally calm manner, "Yes, dear._ I'm seventeen._ Good enough for a few rolls between the sheets. But obviously not good enough to be treated as someone who is old enough to make my own_ choices_."

_Again_, Clint could have kicked himself for even bringing her age up like he had.

"I-I-I didn't say that-"

"But you implied it."

"No-"

"Don't you dare lie to me Clint. That's exactly what you meant when you brought up my age."

He opened his mouth to deny the accusation. But caught both Steve and Bucky staring at him from their respective places in/around the room with mirroring expressions of _horror_ and promptly shut his damned mouth before he wound up saying something else wrong.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought up your age like that. It was thoughtless-" He backtracked and tried to cover his mistake.

"It was a little bit more than thoughtless..." Ichigo said darkly as she stepped over Bucky and moved a little further into the room. "It was stupid. And maybe even a little bit cruel."

Clint flinched at that last part despite knowing that she was right. Bringing her age up now was more than a little bit cruel. It was like trying to pull rank on her because he was older and supposedly 'wiser'. In a roundabout way, it was like saying that he didn't trust her to make her own choices because she was found lacking in some way.

He was tempted to ask Steve to toss him out of the house in a very humiliating and spectacular fashion for her.

"I understand very well that you worry about the baby," The baby. Not her. She was very specific in how she worded things. And it made him flinch again for making her think that he didn't care about her. Even a little bit. "But I have more common sense than you think. And I'm very good at taking care of myself. I don't _need_ any kind of super vision. Parental or otherwise." Clint flinched again knowing that she was probably right. "Now if you're done making a fool of yourself, I think this weekend is a bust. We'll try again next week if you have the time to spare."


	21. Chapter 21

To say that Clint was practically beside himself after Ichigo told him to leave, would be an understatement. The sad truth of the matter was that he didn't know what to do. He'd tried to sit outside in her yard for a little bit. Just in case she decided to forgive him for his newest colossal fuck up.

But all that she had done is bring him food, something to drink. And let him back inside long enough to keep him from pissing or having to take a dump on her flowers.

She'd been perfectly civil about everything too. That was the kicker, right there.

Any other female would have raised their voice, cussed, hell even thrown themselves at him and tried to slap him.

But Ichigo- even at her most pissed off, she had never once raised her voice to him. And that just made him feel that much _lower_.

So after Steve had managed to pull Bucky from her home- which apparently took him a little bit because he'd been trying to talk to her about what had happened until she had given him the boot as well.

She'd even packed him and Bucky some food to take back with them as well as an ice pack for Bucky's 'broken' dick.

So once Steve was outside, he had merely turned to him and thinned his lips a little bit and then hauled him off of her front lawn and into the car- since the U-haul truck had mysteriously vanished along with Nat.

Once back at the tower, Clint went through several of the phases of grief.

Depression. Anger. Bargaining- Well, he'd bargained himself into almost getting alcohol poisoning since he had been drinking quite heavily at that point in time. He'd drunk so much that Tony had inevitably had to intervene to keep him from continuing before he killed his liver.

He spent a two days after that sobering up, since all of the alcohol in the tower had mysteriously vanished.

He'd even left the tower for several hours, at Thor's prompting and had found and bought Ichigo some cute baby things for the future nursery. Toys, some nice pale purple, yellow and blue baby blankets. Some baby bottles, a play pin and a _lovely_ antique style crib with a little canopy and lacey curtains.

He was already planning what lies to tell his baby if it was a boy. Cause those damned lacy curtains were just precious. And he worried that Ichigo would want to keep them regardless of how emasculating they might be.

And considering just how badly he'd messed things up- he'd probably remove his left nut just to make her happy, if she asked him too.

So he knew that any son of his would have to deal with those damned curtains.

Before he knew it a week had passed and the new weekend was quickly closing in. He'd tried to call her to see when she'd like for him to come over and try 'bonding' again. But she didn't answer her phone at all when he called. Hell, she didn't even bother to pick the damn thing up.

Which worried him. _Immensely_.

Muttering a few choice words under his breath, he grabbed his keys and his wallet and started to leave to go and check on her in person. Imagine his surprise when he found her sitting outside of his room, on the floor with her knees drawn up to her chest. _After_, he'd almost tripped over her.

"I-Ichigo?"

She tipped her head back to look at him and he sucked in a ragged breath in an effort to hold back his alarm.

His poor girl looked as if she hadn't been sleeping at all since the last time that they'd seen each other. She also didn't look like she'd bothered much to take care of herself. Her long hair was a mess of tangles and snares and her clothing was dirty and wrinkled.

And- And she just didn't look good at all!

Kneeling down in front of her, he didn't bother to hesitate like he normally would and reached out and framed her face with his hands. And was about to ask her _why_ she looked so bad when she stopped him cold by saying, "Clint... I don't like it when we argue. It makes me feel bad." Her voice sounded so small and child-like.

So unlike the girl that he'd began to get to know.

He sucked in another ragged breath, feeling as if he'd just been punched in the gut. And silently nodded his head in understanding and then moved to slip his arms round her so that he could pick her up off of the floor and move her inside his room so that she'd be more comfortable.

He nearly had a fit when he felt how much lighter she felt in his arms. His alarm mounting more and more by the moment, he asked her if she'd been eating. She'd hummed and muttered, "Hot chocolate..." against his shoulder. Her tone indicating that she was _beyond_ exhausted.

She sound so much like Thor that he couldn't resist rolling his eyes before telling her that no- hot chocolate was _not_ food. Therefore it was not a viable argument.

And couldn't help but panic a little bit when she didn't respond.

Carrying her over to his couch, he set her down on it and took a moment to check on her-noting that she'd somehow dozed off in the few moments between him finding her and bringing her into his room- before he ran off to call for one of the medics to come up and examine her.

Once he finished doing that, he called Tony to ask him how she had managed to get so far into the building, and had learned that Thor had brought her. Because apparently he'd been disappearing off and on for the past week and had obviously been trying to keep an eye on her for him during the time that they'd been apart.

Clint made a mental note to hug the man for trying.

And then he made a mental note to buy him pop-tarts. A year's supply at least.

Walking back over to where Ichigo lay curled up, he scrubbed his face with his hands and slowly seated himself on the floor next to the couch and just looked at her.

"What am I going to do with you?" He wondered aloud. He'd never been so tied up in knots like this before. Not over a girl at least. Hell, it was quickly getting to the point where he didn't know if he was coming or going anymore.

Barely three minutes later, Thor knocked on his door and asked to be let in.

Deciding to see what the man wanted, Clint got up as he walked in carrying Clint's overnight bag, and several bags that he was totally unfamiliar with and gently set them down out of the way.

"What's all this?" Clint asked curiously as he stared at the bags as if they contained live explosives or something.

"Lady Ichigo has not done well away from you. And you have not done well away from her," Thor said before then explaining. "So when I went to check on her earlier, I was given these bags of personal effects from her home and was told to tell you- 'not to drop the ball again'. Her friends are most displeased with her current state. As such she is to stay with us for the duration of her pregnancy and perhaps even after- but _only_ if they can visit her."

Clint blinked at him and then looked back at the bags and suddenly started freaking out. Not in a bad way. It was more like...being giddy with excitement. In fact he was so happy to hear that she would be staying with him in the tower that he damn near shrieked like a girl and flung himself at Thor for a hug.

Luckily Thor seemed to be able to calm him down some without things ever getting that far by simply offering his fist for a fist bump. After which the two cleared their throats and separated as much as possible without going to opposite sides of the room.

"So she's really going to stay?"

"Aye. She is."

"She was really pissed at me Thor-"

"Aye," Thor said somberly. "Friend Barnes has finally deemed fit to tell us all the tale of how she broke his-"

"Don't say it." Clint said quickly. Maybe a little bit too quickly, though from the oddly mischievous look in Thor's eyes, the man didn't mind a bit. "Anyways... I called for a medic so that I can have her checked out."

"Yes, I would have as well in your place. Her state is rather..._worrying_." Thor said as he glanced towards the couch before muttering with a frown. "At least she seems to be resting now."

"What has she been doing this whole week? Do you know?"

Thor was quiet for a moment before slowly nodding his head. Of course he knew what she had been doing all week. He'd spent several nights at her home, trying to help her. But she had been so despondent… She had refused to move, to speak, to eat or drink anything that he tried to offer her.

She hadn't even slept when he tried to get her to rest! In fact, to his knowledge, she hadn't had any actual rest in nearly _five_ days.

He had feared that if it continued for much longer then she and her babe would both be lost.

He had been planning to bring her to the tower sooner, but interferience from her friends had held him up a little bit. Not much, but certainly enough to almost anger him. Almost.

It had been her young, waif-like friend that had packed her things and told him to take her. After of course, she had _decked_ at least one male, and then verbally berated him for causing the girl to stay put in such a sorry current state. The male had apologized and had told him that he was worried too.

He simply seemed to be trying to adequately gauge the girl's heath before he allowed anything...drastic. To some extent Thor could understand this. But at the same time, being held back could have severe consequences for_ both_ Lady Ichigo and her babe. And frankly, he did not want his friend to be on the warpath again if anything happened to his woman or child.

He was upset enough from what little bit Thor had seen before deciding to step in on his behalf. He was about to answer Clint's earlier question when there was another knock on his friend's door and the medic announced himself.


	22. Chapter 22

Thor didn't bother leaving Clint's quarters while Ichigo was examined. He felt the odd need to stay just in case questions were asked that Clint couldn't answer. And it was a good thing he thought this- because there were questions.

Has she been eating?

No.

Has she been drinking?

No... Well, Clint stepped in and mentioned hot chocolate to the medic. But to Thor's recollection, the girl hadn't drunk anything at all during the time that he'd been present in her home.

Has she slept the past few days?

_No, no, no._

Has she taken any vitamins or drugs?

Again, _no_. A vehement one.

Finally after what felt like forever to the two men, the medic stood up and turned to Clint and told him that Ichigo had lost at least several pounds of weight. No more than five, possibly due to stress. She was exhausted. And dehydrated, and also likely hungry too. But aside from those things, she seemed totally fine.

He wrote out a small list of vitamins- some protein and calcium rich stuff to give her to help compensate for what she'd lost already and a few other things and then he politely left.

Once he was gone, Clint looked at Ichigo with a stormy expression as Thor said somberly, "Forgive me my friend. I should have brought her here sooner."

"Don't apologize Thor. This isn't you're fault," Clint muttered as he tried to think of what to do now. "She'll be staying right?" He finally asked his friend for the second time.

"Aye. She will stay."

Clint nodded his head and then walked towards the bags that Thor had brought in with him and dropped down to his knees next to them and began to systematically go through them to see what she would need and what she wouldn't. He was somewhat relieved to find that her shampoos, conditioners, lotions and her hygiene items were packed in one of the bags.

She had clothing too. Enough for a week or so.

_I'll have to take her shopping for more._ He thought to himself before noting that a couple of pairs of shoes and two jackets had been packed as well.

Whoever had packed her things had included a family photo of her and her sisters and her parents, and a pic or two of her and her friends together. As well as two tins of her hot chocolate mix, several herbal teas.

A large, hand stitched emerald, cream, and mint colored quilt with vines embroidered on it.

Her laptop, so that she could do some work. Her cell phone and charger chord... A weird stuffed animal sewing kit of some kind. And that was it.

Sitting back on his heels once he finished sorting through the stuff, he thought carefully on what she would need and what she wouldn't need.

Clothing was a must. Comfortable, yet nice ones. And maybe at least three formal dresses so that he could take her out to gala's and parties and such since Tony tended to drag _everyone_ out on occasion for one reason or another. She would need some extra shoes too. Maybe some winter wear for when it got cold since he very much doubted that two measly coats would keep her warm when the temperature outside dropped below freezing.

She'd need extra hygiene items. A couple of new brushes for her hair. Some make-up? Crap, did she even wear make-up aside from blush and lip gloss?

She had her quilt, her pictures and her sewing kit thingy. Maybe to help her from feeling so homesick?

And her hot chocolate too. He'd have to look through the herbal teas to see if they were okay for her to drink now. But something told him that whoever had packed her things wouldn't have put them in the bag if they were bad for her or the baby.

Still...it didn't hurt to err on the side of caution.

She'd need a little work area too. A desk, a comfortable chair, maybe? Something that she could sit in for a few hours so that she could work without her back aching.

Once he finished mulling things over, he grabbed some of her clothing and her scented magnolia/peony shampoo's and got up.

"I'm going to get her cleaned up a bit and then put her to bed."

"Aye. That might be for the best for now." Thor said before slowly wandering back towards the door before pausing just long enough to say, "If you have need of me, call me."

"Yeah. Thanks, man." Clint said, receiving a nod from the man as he slipped out of his room and vanished. Bending down, Clint carefully collected Ichigo from his couch and then made his way towards his bathroom fully intending to give his girl a nice warm bath and wash her hair and stuff for her before he redressed her in one of her night shirts and then tucked her in.

He'd wake her up in a few hours to see if she would eat something for him.

All in all, it took him thirty minutes to do everything. And Ichigo never even stirred or woke up once. Which had made things a little bit more difficult for him. But not so difficult that he couldn't manage.

He was just glad that her legs were naturally smooth. He didn't think that she would have appreciate waking up to him trying to shave her with one of his razors. Those damned things cut him up often enough- he didn't even want to imagine what they would to her soft skin.

Finally he tucked her into his bed and then left her alone for a while to sleep while he did some planning. Placed an order for the vitamin's and stuff that the medic had mentioned to him, plus some extra stuff like prenatal vitamins, made a doctor's appointment for a check-up the next week and tried to figure out what she might want for dinner.

He'd been thinking or ordering in some pizza or something. But if she hasn't been eating, then she might not be able to eat something heavy right then.

He fretted about it for maybe an hour before Steve showed up with a pot of fresh vegetable soup that he'd made. As well as some home made bread. He'd handed the stuff over, god bless the man, and asked how Ichigo was.

Apparently he had run into Thor at some point and had heard how bad off she was and had gotten concerned. It was nice of him to worry. Clint wouldn't lie and say that he wasn't worried too. Because he was.

Very much so.

Still...it was nice of his friend to stop by and check up on her and bring some food for her. With that out of the way he could focus on other things.

Like getting his girl healthy, and helping her regain some of the weight that she had lost.

* * *

Ichigo woke up sometime several hours after nightfall to the dizzying sensation of lips covering her own. Slowly stealing her breath.

Disoriented for a moment, she started to bring her hands up to push at whoever _dared_ to lay their hands on her while she was in such a vulnerable state. But whoever it was caught her hands easily before she could touch them and then quickly pinned them down before lifting their head a tad bit to say gently.

"No, no, baby. It's just me. You're safe."

Familiarity and affection _bled_ from the masculine voice and it took her a second- just a small one- to even recall who the voice belonged to.

"Clint?"

He hummed and pressed another kiss to her lips and slowly released her hands so that he could ran his palms along the insides of her wrists and down her forearms before removing them altogether and raising himself up so that she could see him a bit in the darkness.

"Hey, sweetheart," He greeted her once he was upright. He had an odd look on his face. Like he was at war with himself and it was tearing him up inside. "How are you feeling?" He finally asked after a heartbeat or so of silence.

"M'okay. What time is it?" Ichigo asked as she slowly pushed herself up and then took a moment to rub at her eyes.

"About eight thirty at night." Clint said as he glanced over at the small digital clock next to his bed.

"Oh."

"You worried me," Clint said, not bothering to pussy foot around any longer. She looked at him wide eyed, her expression questioning like she didn't understand and he had to tamp down on the feeling of anger burning through him at her not taking of herself or their baby, and simply sighed before saying. "You didn't take care of yourself or the baby and seeing you like you were earlier worried me. _So don't do it again_."

There was a noticeable bite to the last few words that had her flinching and looking down at her hands for a moment.

"Sorry."

He hummed again and watched her for a moment before then asking her if she was hungry. She didn't really respond to his question until he reached out and gently touched his fingertips to the underside of her chin and made her look at him. "I asked you a question, sweetheart. Are you hungry?"

"Oh, right." Ichigo muttered with a small frown before replying, "Yeah. Yeah, I could eat."

"Good. I've got some vegetable soup and home made bread for you. And if that doesn't make you sick, then maybe I can fix you something else later. Sound good?"

"Yeah."

Clint smiled a little bit and then stood up and scooped her up in his arms, eliciting a small yelp from her followed by her chiding him. "I can walk you know."

"Yes, I know. But can you walk well when you're tired and weak from hunger? You know, _without_ falling on your face?"


	23. Chapter 23

To say that Clint was pleased by the fact that Ichigo had eaten the entire pot of veggie soup that Steve had brought by for her and was currently polishing off what was left of the loaf of bread that he'd baked too, was an understatement. Technically speaking, he was both pleased and sort of concerned for the girl.

She'd practically _inhaled_ everything.

And aside from Steve, Bucky, and in some unique cases, Bruce himself- he'd never seen anyone eat quite that much before. She hadn't even bothered with the spoon that he'd given her at first. She'd just picked up the bowl and downed _everything _practically in one gulp and then had politely asked for more.

Over and over and over again until there was nothing left but the half loaf of bread that she hadn't eaten yet.

"_Wow_..." Was all that he could think to say, his tone laced with stupefied disbelief, once she finished off the last bite of bread and then slowly pushed her dishes aside. "Uh, d-did you have enough or-" He looked away from her for a moment and wondered if he had anything else that she could eat if she was still hungry.

He was sure that he had some left overs in the fridge from the past few days. Some pasta, some sandwich stuff, a couple of tomato's and salad and a few other odds and ends. But not a whole lot since he hadn't eaten all that much himself these past few days.

"I'm fine," She said softly. She sounded tired again. Like it had taken all of her energy just to eat something. He frowned for a moment before she said in a slightly embarrassed, pleading tone, "Please tell me that you ate before I-"

"I'll order a pizza since that was my plan anyways." He said, hoping that it would help assure her that he wasn't planning to starve himself or anything.

There was no missing the full body cringe that she gave as she flushed a little bit before muttering a soft apology as he stood up and gathered her dishes up and asked, "Now that that is out of the way, do you want to lay back down?"

"I-I think I'll try to sit up for a little bit. Maybe curl up on the couch if that's okay?"

"That's fine sweetheart," He said as he carried the dishes into the kitchen before tacking on, "You don't have to ask for permission to curl up on the couch or anything. While you're here, think of my home as your own."

"I feel like I should ask though. Because you might have things that you don't want me to see or touch," Ichigo said causing him to jerk his head around to look at her for a moment before she added, "_Work stuff._ Things that are important and shouldn't be seen or touched by someone who is an outsider. Ya know?"

He might have laughed at her if her reasoning wasn't so sound. And while he appreciated the fact that she was concerned about seeing or touching something that she shouldn't. She really didn't need to be. He kept everything Shield or Avengers related locked up in a hidden safe in his old apartment across town.

He _never_ brought those things home with him at the tower anymore. It was too much of a security risk- thanks entirely to Tony and his non-stop nosiness.

"You don't have to worry about anything work related, baby. I don't have anything especially important lying around anywhere. Everything is in a safe at a different location. I don't even have any weapons lying around."

Ichigo chewed her bottom lip for a moment as he made his way back to her, and then finally nodded her head and then started to get up out of her seat when he scooped her up in his arms again. She huffed quietly but didn't complain. Not even when he chuckled at her vexed expression and called her his princess.

But she wanted to complain though. After all, she wasn't such a girly-girl that she _liked_ being called a princess, even by him. That was just all kinds of wrong.

He set her down on the couch and made quick work of grabbing a few cushions and putting one behind her back, one over her bare feet- and then left her alone for a moment so that he could grab the quilt that had been packed in one of her bags and walked back to her while he shook it out a little bit before then covering her in it and then handing her the TV remote and then walked away.

Ichigo just sat there for a moment or two with a bewildered look on her face as she heard him messing around in the kitchen for several moments before smelling the scent of hot chocolate and glancing his way.

He had two steaming mugs in his hands and was making his way back to her. He set her cup down on the coffee table next to her side of the couch and then seated himself next to her and frowned for a moment when he noted that she hadn't turned on the TV yet.

"Is there anything that you'd like to watch for a bit?" He asked curiously.

"Uh... It's Friday, right?"

He hummed as he took a sip of his drink.

"Maybe a movie." She didn't sound sure about what she wanted to see.

"Anything in particular?"

"I'm a fan or cult classic horror movies." She said with a small frown of her own as she studied the remote for a moment or so before finally pressing the power button to turn the TV on.

"Awesome. I think some are supposed to be on AMC right now."

"What channel is that?"

He rattled off the number and leaned back to relax a little bit as she turned the channel to the one that he gave her and then set the remote aside and sank down a little bit where she sat as Halloween H20 started to play. The two of them watched the movie for about an hour before Clint felt Ichigo's head suddenly drop onto his shoulder and glanced over to see her sound asleep.

Shifting his body a little bit, he slipped a hand underneath her head and moved the arm that she had been laying on so that he could ease her down onto her side, with her head resting on his leg as she slept. Once that was done, he started to run his fingers through her silken hair when his phone vibrated.

Carefully fishing it out of his pocket without waking her, he noted that Steve had texted him to see if she had eaten. He messaged him back to let him know that she'd eaten it all in one sitting as well as the bread that he'd made.

Steve sent him a smiley face.

Probably because he didn't know what else to do in response.

No matter. She'd eaten, that was all that mattered to him at the moment.

Next were a couple of texts from Tony and Nat. Both trying to confirm if Ichigo would be staying with them. Clint sent them both a nice message to tell them yes, and even asked Nat if she would mind making some of the honey cakes that she sometimes made.

He mentioned that his girl had lost far too much weight this past week and she needed to regain it plus a few extra pounds.

Nat told him that she'd have some made in the afternoon tomorrow for her.

Whereas Tony asked if her friends would be stopping by for a visit at some point. Apparently he was slowly becoming paranoid that they'd be taken over or something. He typed something about needing to create a better security system and maybe even a force field that repelled trouble makers that blew up his building lobby.

Clint had nothing really to say to that aside form wishing him luck and telling him that a supped up bomb shelter that was tricked out to look like the Batcave might go a long ways towards easing his paranoia.

Tony's response was to send him a pic of his bare ass with the caption, **Kiss it**. The jerk.

Bucky didn't really bother to message him. He did however send him a weird video of himself hiding in a closet or something- that reminded him of the Blair Witch Project movie- and just said, "She's not breaking my dick again." And then the video cut out.

So he was assuming that he'd decided to hide for a bit until he knew that it was safe to come out.

Sniggering, his inner evil decided to rear it's ugly head and he sent the man a message that he had better have a crap load of water, canned goods, and toilet paper cause it was going to be a _loooong_ nine months. And then tacked on that he and Steve would be taking her shopping for clothing and such in a day or so.

He got a pic of Bucky giving him the finger and a message from Steve saying that they would love to.

And Clint would bet anything that Steve got something a little more colorful than just a pic of Bucky flipping him off for volunteering him to help take Ichigo shopping.

Setting his phone aside, he settled back and let himself relax a little bit as he finished the movie and then started another.


	24. Chapter 24

**Consider this a belated halloween chap since I was a little bit busy celebrating nine years of marraige.**

**Clint is a little bit of a freak in this one. Just roll with it and enjoy. **

* * *

Ichigo woke up around three am, while he had been watching the reboot of the Evil Dead movie. Though to be fair, she had slept for quite a while the previous day so her internal clock must have been thrown off a bit. So it wasn't as if it were totally unexpected for her to wake up so soon instead of sleep all night.

"Hey sweetheart. Feeling okay?" Clint asked as he slowly ran his fingers through her hair one last time before hesitantly removing his hand when she started to twist herself around so that she could push herself upright as she rasped out.

"What happened?"

"You conked out. I think the combination of food, hot chocolate, and the Halloween movie finally did you in." He said in amusement.

"Oh. I don't even recall dozing off."

He made a none committal sound and watched her as she sat back up and held her head in one hand for a moment. "You still look tired." He said after a heartbeat or two.

She twitched and dropped her hand before sighing. "I know." And then slowly removed the quilt from over her and started to get up.

"Bathroom break?" He asked curiously. She looked at him as if he'd slapped her or something and turned _red_ and then quickly scampered off, despite not knowing where she was going. Leaving him to absently call out, "It's the closest room on the left of the bedroom."

He heard a vague reply, something along the lines of an adorably mortified sounding, 'shut up' that made him laugh a little bit as he saw her flick on the light and duck into the room.

He'd never met someone so damned shy before. It wasn't like needing to go to the bathroom was something that was shocking or terrible. Everyone did it. It was a normal bodily function, after all.

But what was even more confusing to him was how Ichigo could still be so shy after falling into bed with him already.

He saw her heading back towards him, and grinned at the little scowl on her face. She was so cute sometimes. He mused to himself as she flopped back down next to him. He looked at her and she muttered, "You're an ass." And he nearly started laughing at her.

"I have an _ass_. You got a nice handful of it last week- as I recall." He said cheekily. Ichigo made a weird half groan/half whining sound and hid her face in her hands for a moment before then dropping her hand and saying.

"I've groped better asses."

He gave a dramatic gasp and looked at her in wide eyed disbelief. "That is not what you say to the father of your baby! If anything, mine should be the most wonderful ass that you have ever laid eyes upon."

Ichigo's lips twitched slightly in amusement as she shook her head. "You're weird."

"No you're weird." He sniped back at her as he reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gently tugged her off balance so that she toppled over until her head was lying on his leg again. "If you're finished making me feel like I need to hit the gym and firm up my assets- then why don't you try going back to sleep. It's still early and you need the rest."

"What about you?"

"I'll probably decide to sleep here in a little bit."

"You plan to sleep till noon, huh?" Ichigo asked while trying to suppress a yawn.

Clint smiled down at her and started to run his fingers through her hair again. Something that was starting to become a little bit of a habit to him since it helped him to relax before he said, "Nah. I'll be up before you are so that I can fix you something to eat."

"S'not fair." Ichigo said in a drowsy tone as she fought to keep her eyes open.

Clint might have asked her what wasn't fair, but if he did, she didn't hear him. She lost the fight to keep her eyes open and drifted back to sleep to the feel of his fingers ghosting over her scalp in an almost hypnotic manner.

* * *

When Ichigo woke up again, she was curled up in the same bedroom that she'd been in last night. Clint was stretched out beside her over the covers wearing a simple T-shirt and some sweat pants. His long-ish blond bangs, hanging partially in his face and he had a steely arm locked tightly around her middle, cuddling her in his sleep.

And he _was_ asleep. Ichigo could tell by how relaxed he was and by the way that he breathed.

Curious to see just how deeply he was sleeping, Ichigo tried wiggling a little bit so that she could twist around to face him. It didn't work. His arm tightened like an anaconda around her and he pulled her flush against him and then buried his face against the side of her neck. He rubbed his face against her skin for a moment before settling back down. A soft snore escaping his slightly parted lips.

She huffed and wondered for a moment if maybe she should pinch him. She needed to go to the bathroom soon other wise she'd pee on them both. Deciding to try another tactic, she reached up and ran her fingertips along the curve of his jaw and shivered when he twitched and tried to bury his face into her throat.

She did it again and he growled. Not groaned. _Growled_.

The sound of it vibrated his chest and sent a shiver down her spine. Awkwardly clearing her throat, she ran her fingertips along his jaw again and this time he didn't just growl. He bit her.

Like a freaking vampire!

His teeth clamped down on the side of her throat so quickly and with almost bruising force that she couldn't even manage a scream. She managed a weird sounding little strangled noise as her body went stiff as a fucking board. But not a frigging scream.

It lasted barely a heartbeat or two. And then he slowly removed his teeth from her throat and buried his face in her hair and let out another soft snore.

"Well...I don't think I need to go to the bathroom anymore..." She muttered to herself as she suddenly realized that her panties felt wet and groaned at the uncomfortable feeling when she felt him cup her sex over her panties and nearly jumped out of her skin as he muttered in a sleep rough tone.

"Wrong kind of wet baby."

She squeaked as he rose up on his elbow so that he was partially looming over her, his expression curious, his icy blue eyes hooded.

"Y-Your awake." She squeaked out in a startled sounding tone. He just gave her a devious sort of smile and then leaned over and kissed her lips as he slowly stroked her through her panties for a moment, causing her to twitch a little bit as he pulled back and removed his hand from her core.

"Go to the bathroom sweetheart." He said with a slight yawn as he flopped down on the mattress and watched her roll out of bed and scamper off to do her business. In truth he'd been awake for a little while now. He'd just been...enjoying being curled up with Ichigo while she slept.

He'd never really been much of a cuddler before. But for some reason, he didn't feel right not cuddling her. He liked being able to rest his hand over her stomach too. Imagining how gorgeous she was going to look with her stomach swollen with his baby in a few months.

He hadn't meant to bite her like he had. In all actuality he had meant to simply nip at her skin with his teeth. He'd simply gotten a little bit annoyed with her for trying to 'wake' him and get him to move when he hadn't felt all that inclined to let her up just yet because he'd been comfortable. So he'd bit her to get her to stay still.

It had worked too. Maybe a little bit too well.

He'd never felt someone stiffen up so fast before. But then again, maybe he shouldn't have bitten her quite so hard. As it was, she would likely have some sort of bruise or something.

Ichigo returned several moments later absently rubbing the spot that he'd bitten with a frown on her pretty face.

"Were you a vampire in a past life?" She asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed, _far_ away from him. Or at least as far away from him as the bed would allow. He carefully kept himself from letting his amusement show as he eyed her and slowly replied.

"No."

"Werewolf?"

"If I was then wouldn't biting you make you my mate."

She shrugged her shoulders before saying. "I have limited knowledge about those things."

"Ah," Was all he could think to say as he sat up and grabbed her. She made a funny little _eep_-ing sound as he lifted her up and then settled her in his lap so that she was straddling him. "Would you like me to mate you like a wolf?" He asked, careful to make his tone sound as if he were jesting.

In all actuality the idea intrigued him more than a little bit and he was simply trying to gauge her reaction to the suggestion.

Ichigo flushed a pretty pink color and it looked as if she was certainly trying to imagine the mechanics of such an event. He bit back a smile of amusement at the morbidly curious expression on her face. She opened and closed her mouth several times- apparently wanting to ask something, but thinking better of it while he continued to watch her.

"Curious to know how a wolf would mate?" He finally asked.

"N-No." She blushed harder and he gave her a wicked grin. She didn't want to know how an animal would mate. She probably knew the mechanics of that herself. She wanted to know how a _werewolf_ would mate. He grinned even more.

His sweetheart had such a delightfully strange mind.

He _loved_ it. Truly he did.

"You want to know how a werewolf would mate? To a human?" He asked, feeling emboldened by her blush and the curiosity he saw in her expression.

"D-Don't say such weird things."

"But you want to know, right?" He wasn't phased in the least by her stuttered words about 'weird' things. She was seventeen and new to sex, after all. She probably thought everything was a little bit weird. "You want to know how a werewolf would mate." It wasn't a question anymore. It was merely a statement of fact.

Ichigo felt his hands slip underneath her sleep shirt and rest on her hips.

"I can both tell you and show you. It'll be _fun_." He said in a coaxing tone as he leaned in a began pressing little kisses to the curve of her jaw. "A male werewolf, lives and breathes for his mate and pups and pack."

"T-This sounds oddly like you're reading a story..."

He snorted in amusement, "Oh please, like any child on the internet can come up with half of the erotic shit that I can. Any fledgling can _fantasize_ about mating with a man-beast. But how many people would actually have the nerve to do it? Hollywood and many,_ many_ people have romanticized the notion of werewolves and mating. They are dweebs. Now shut up and let me work here." He growled at her, his voice taking a deeper and more animalistic quality as he toppled them over on the bed so that she was lying underneath him.

"A male werewolf, lives and breathes for it's mate and pups. He may be ancient or young, barely managing to reach adulthood. He would likely be alone. Very alone. And would seek what comfort he could from whoever was willing to give it."

"He's a hunter and a predator of the highest degree. His instincts would guide him in _everything_," He pressed a few more kisses to her jaw and then lifted his head so that he could see her. "The first thing about his mate that would grab his attention- would be her scent. If I were a werewolf...I would have smelled you a mile away." He leaned down and buried his nose against her throat and inhaled deeply and then slowly exhaled.

Part of him was so into this that he wished he had a tail to wag. It was so much fun.

"You smell so damned sweet, like magnolia and peonies with an underlying hint of oranges. So ripe and tempting. It would be difficult to restrain myself from following your scent until I had tracked you down. I'd want to be _covered_ in it. I would want to get my hands on the source of the scent and keep it as close to me as I could."

Ichigo giggled when she felt him snuffle her a few times to make his point.

He lifted his head again and grinned at her before continuing, "The next thing he would do, is once he's found his mate- he'd want to hunt for her to show that he can care for her. I think hunting a deer in a place like New York would be a little bit problematic. But I wouldn't hunt anything smaller if I really wanted to impress my mate. Rabbits and squirrels are too small and not very impressive. Sure I would be able to show off my prowess as a hunter, but not so much as a provider since my mate would probably be hungry again in thirty minutes."

"So...rabbits and squirrels are like the Chinese food of the animal kingdom?"

"Yes. Which is why only a deer would do. A nice big one."

"And what would you do with it once you had it?"

He stopped talking for a moment and pulled back a bit more so that he was sitting on her legs and seemed to think her words over for a second before then saying, "Well, once I had it killed and dragged off to my mate's location- I would want to present it to her in grand fashion."

"Throw it through her window, stuff it in a car-"

"I'd set it down at her feet."

"Oh, well at least you have the common sense not to _throw_ it at the poor woman." Ichigo mocked with a grin.

"Throwing a dead animal that you've killed at a human female that you hope to mate with is just...stupid and counter productive." Clint said with a roll of his eyes. "It would freak her out. And would likely get her to call the cops. So yes, I would have the common sense not to throw my kill at her. Though maybe not the common sense to wipe the deer's blood from around my mouth."

Ichigo started laughing at him and he shot her a glare before saying defensively, "What? I'm young, horny and all the blood from my brain is suddenly going south. I'm bound to forget _something_."

This just made her laugh louder. He rolled his eyes at her again as she slowly settled back down.

"And once that is done?"

"Well now that I've established that I can care and provide for her-"

"Assuming that she hasn't already run screaming-"

"_Stop. Interrupting. Me_. This is my werewolf story." He growled at her before leaning down to nip at her shoulder. She twitched underneath him but didn't say anything else which he took as a sign to continue. "Anyways, now that I've established that I can care and provide for her, it's time to reel her in. I'd charm her."

Ichigo bit her bottom lip and looked very much like she were going to laugh again. He gave her a narrow eyed look and grit out playfully. "What? I'm charming."

Her lips twitched. And he ran his fingers along her ribs, tickling her for a moment, feeling just a little bit disappointed that she didn't laugh before letting her settle back down.

"Okay, so you charm her and lure her to you're...wolf-man cave. What then?"

"We need to be naked for that part." Clint said as he sat back up again and looked at himself and then her and then nodded his head as if confirming his assessment.

"Then strip."

"Impatient much?"

"You've got me invested in you're...awkward wolfy courtship. So get on with it already." She said in a frustrated tone.

"Wow, you are impatient huh."

"Just ditch your fucking clothes." Ichigo snapped.

He arched a brow at her and gave an exaggerated sigh, and muttered, "Well if I must." He didn't even leave his position of sitting on her legs to do it. He just...ripped his clothing off and then looked at her expectantly while she practically gaped at him. "You need to be naked for this too." He said as he reached out and took the fabric of her night shirt between his fingers and tugged at it slightly to emphasis his words.

All Ichigo could manage to say was an automatic sounding, "Don't you dare rip my clothing."

"Then hurry up and get naked. Fuzzy needs some lovin."

"Well then Fuzzy needs to relocate so that I can-" Ichigo was trying to tell him that he needed to move himself if he wanted her to lose her clothes, but Clint didn't seem all that inclined to move and let her strip. He did however give her a freakishly weird smile before he reached out and non-too- nicely ripped her sleep shirt right down the middle. Causing her to gasp in shock before outrage quickly bubbled up.

And still he just smiled.

"I can't tell you're stupid or suicidal," Ichigo growled at him in annoyance. "But when a girl tells you not to rip her damned clothing then you should-" He shifted himself a little bit lower on her legs so that he was sitting on her knees- well, okay. Barely sitting on her knees. He wouldn't want the weight of his body to break her damned legs. That would ruin everything and make him feel terrible to boot. Still...she wasn't totally naked so- he decided to _help_ her out again by nicely removing her panties for her.

It was just too bad that he had to rip them to get them off of her. They had been a nice pretty red with little white polka dots. And by the time he was done, Ichigo was sooo grateful that she shouted at him before she came off of the bed and smacked him on the shoulder.

It didn't matter though, cause now they were both naked and his 'fuzzy' side could finally claim his mate. And it was fun too. And as the two of them lay, locked together in his bed, breathless and dizzy from their activities. He couldn't help but think that he might need to fantasy play as a vampire the next time he decided to talk monster mating habits with Ichigo.

But what really got him going, was once Ichigo seemed to catch her breath she finally said, "You better kill a deer for me."

He let out bark of laughter and nuzzled her collarbone before placing a few kisses against her sweat dampened skin and simply saying, "I'll get on that."


	25. Chapter 25

Two days later, after breakfast Clint called up Steve and told him to grab Bucky from his hiding place. It was finally time to take his girl shopping for everything that she would need during her stay with them at the tower. Steve told him that he'd been expecting his call and lured his friend out of hiding already and he was currently sitting poon his couch, sulking.

Clint chuckled and slowly shook his head as he told the man that they'd be ready to go in a few minutes. Steve asked which stores they would likely be hitting and Clint mentioned a few nice ones that Tony owned. Including a large two story mall that he'd bought several years back just to keep it from closing down and the people in it from losing their jobs and livelihoods.

Which had saved about eight hundred and some odd jobs and had been a great investment for the billionaire since it was a nice place to hangout when ever everyone had to go shopping for specific items for some of Tony's parties and gala's.

The eateries there weren't bad either. In fact some of them were pretty damn good. Like five stars kind of good.

They could hit there first since a lot of the stores carried a lot of really cool stuff that Ichigo might like to check out. They also had a furniture store where he could get her a desk and a few other things. A book store where she could grab some baby books. A bath and bodies store that they could hit since she might want some more of her shampoo and conditioner and maybe even some perfumes and body spray and lotions. And a few novelty places that sometimes had some really good shit too.

Hanging up the phone, he decided to go and tell Ichigo. Walking down the hall to the bathroom, he put his hand on the slightly ajar door and pushed it open.

"Sweetheart, think you might be up for some shopping today." It wasn't really a question. But at the same time, he didn't feel that he should drag any of them out into town to do stuff if she was still feeling poorly.

She looked at him with a deer caught in the headlight's look before slowly asking. "Why?"

"You're going to need more clothing and such while you stay here. Plus I thought that you could get whatever popped into your pretty head for the baby or to make your stay here more comfortable."

"Do I have too?" She wasn't whining. That was one thing he was absolutely certain of since his Ichigo didn't _whine_ for any reason. She was just..._very_ reluctant to go out, apparently. Which was something that he didn't really understand. Sure, she hadn't really expressed any particularly strong _need_ or _want_ or _desire_ to get out and get some fresh air and stretch her legs a little bit.

But that was only because she'd still been settling in. Right?

"Yes," His tone brooked no argument. "Plus you can get some baggy clothing to wear so that you have stuff before you need to get maternity clothing later, you know. For when you start showing a bit."

She scrunched up her nose at the very idea of needing more stuff but inevitably sighed and nodded her head in agreement. Though he could tell that she wasn't the least bit happy about it.

"Fine. We'll go..._shopping_." She spat out the word like it was a curse of some kind and he felt his lips twitching in amusement as she brushed past him out of the bathroom.

"You know I've never met a woman that didn't like shopping." He commented in a thoughtful tone. Filing the information away in the back of his mind along with her dislike of receiving bouquets and such.

"That's because I'm the last of a dying breed." She said as she slipped her shoes on as he grabbed his leather jacket from the hook next to the door and made sure that he had his wallet, keys and cell on him before turning his attention back to her.

"Baby," She hummed as she grabbed her own stuff. He saw her grab her own wallet and stuff it in her pants pocket and narrowed his eyes a little bit at her before saying, "Leave you're wallet."

"Huh?"

"Leave you're wallet. You aren't going to need it." He explained to her. Especially since he fully intended to buy her whatever she needed or wanted on this trip since it would be a good chance to spoil her outrageously.

"I'm not letting you buy me anything." She said automatically.

He made a growling sound and moved closer to her and stared her down for a moment before saying, "We're going on this shopping trip and I am buying you _everything _that you want or need with my own money."

"Then I'm not going." Ichigo said as she crossed her arms over her breasts and glared at him.

"You're going."

"No."

_"Ichigo."_ He growled warningly, his tone colored with annoyance. He didn't care if this was an independence thing or a stubbornness thing. If he had too, he'd toss her over his shoulder and carry out the door kicking and screaming. Either way this shopping trip _was_ happening and she _would_ leave her wallet behind.

"Don't you take that tone with me." She snapped at him. "I have more than enough money to take care of my own needs. I don't want you spending anything on me."

"I want to though."

"I figured that much. But Clint you could use that money on something else later that you might need. You don't need to use it on me."

"I want to take care of you."

"I understand that. But you need to take care of yourself too." Ichigo said, her glare and voice both softening a bit. "You're job is dangerous. And anything could happen at any point. If you want to take care of me then think about the future. Upgrade your weapons, buy light weight body armor that can better protect you from injuries. Start a college fund for our son or daughter. Set some money aside for emergencies like hospital visits and stuff."

He blinked at her both understanding what she was saying and not.

"I didn't know that you worried about that stuff." He said softly knowing that she must have worried about it quite a bit to even mention it now.

"Of course I do. I want everything taken care of so that if anything happens to either of us."

"W-Why- I mean, h-have you-" He started to ask if she had been doing that stuff herself, but felt stupid for even starting to ask. If she worried about it so much then she probably _had_ been doing something about it from her end.

She nodded her head yes and he inhaled sharply as she went on to say, "The day that my friends came here and confirmed my pregnancy. I wrote out a will, named you as the babies sole guardian if I died or something. And if you died on the job, I named several people on both of our sides that could take our son or daughter in and raise them. I set money aside for college, I put my house in you're name."

"I named godparents. Uncles, and aunties from both your friends and mine. I left very specific instructions about my valuables and family heirlooms. I put a third of the money that I've earned from work in your name. If our baby has abilities even vaguely like mine, I want him/her trained by some of my friends so that he/she can take care of themselves. I want it to know your friends and learn things from them too. I want our baby to have everything in the world- _omph_!"

Clint didn't know what to say in regards to her worries or much of anything else. Nothing that would convince her to leave her wallet behind and let him take care of her anyways. So instead of continuing to argue with her he did the only thing that he could think of- he kissed her.

Slanting his mouth over her own, he slipped his tongue inside of the moist cavern that always tasted of honey to him and slowly stole her breath from her. She melted in his arms, her hands coming up to grip his shoulders as her knees went weak.

He pulled back after a moment or so and rested his forehead against her own and simply breathed, "I love you." Knowing in his heart that it was the absolute and undeniable truth. He didn't know how it had happened or when- all he knew was that he loved this crazy girl. He fucking _adored_ her. And with god as his witness he _would_ marry her one day.

Even if he had to spend the rest of both of their lives convincing her of the true depths his feelings.

He felt her fingers grip his shirt a bit more tightly. It was the only outward sign of her sudden anxiousness that he could see as well as feel as she studied his expression for a moment. He brought his hands up to frame her face and stared into her eyes for a second before saying.

"I do. I love you. I know that you don't believe me right now. But someday you will. I'll do whatever I have too to convince you. Until then, please be patient with me and let me take care of you."

She mutely nodded her head and he smiled and pressed his lips against her forehead before stepping back and then saying gently, "Come on. Steve and Bucky are probably wondering where we are."


	26. Chapter 26

Ichigo was a little bit of a strange shopper. Clint noted absently as he, Steve, and Bucky watched her scan a clothing rack of shirts and sweaters.

So far she had gotten several new night shirts to sleep in, some flannel PJ's, socks and at least three new packs of panties that she had hidden underneath everything else because she didn't want Steve or Bucky to see them. Not that Clint minded all that much.

He didn't want his friends to see her unmentionables either. Those were for _his_ eyes only.

She also managed to find several shirts. None of which had been anything that the three men had expected her to put in the buggy.

They were so used to Nat and Pepper's shopping habits that they had almost completely forgotten that some women liked the more simple styles. Instead of silk or satin- Ichigo grabbed cotton and wool. Instead of bold colors, she went for muted and pastels. On occasion she might pick up a dark blue or red or something.

But she didn't seem to like them any. And the few black colored items that she had already collected were plain. Not beaded, or eye catching in the least.

To be perfectly honest the moment that she put the first shirt in the buggy, Clint had nearly died of a hear attack or something. He's just been so startled by her lack of interest in anything that was a designer brand.

Even Steve and Bucky had been startled by her clothing choices.

They simply hadn't picked the item up and whined and argued with her in an effort to get her to get something_ nicer _and noticeably more expensive. Ichigo had stood firm with Clint though and simply told him that if she was going to wear the stuff then she'd damn well pick it out and he'd better back the fuck off.

He'd wisely shut up after that and had merely stood back to observe her along with the other two.

They spent a total of fifteen minutes in the first store. And then fifteen minutes in five others, just letting her find what she might like.

She found some perfume's in a specialty shop that she liked. And had bought those while Clint's back had been turned. Which is what got her wallet taken from her and hidden in Steve's other pant's pocket.

Needless to say, she was mightily _pissed_ about that and proved it by making him spend nearly six hundred and thirty nine dollars on arts and crafts items at a craft store.

Which got her wallet back, because Clint wasn't sure what else to do.

She wasn't a child after all. Seventeen sure, but not a child. He could spoil her with other stuff and let her get some things with her own money if that was what made her happy.

Besides, Bucky was threatening to wring his neck if he got loaded down with anymore craft supplies. And Steve was nearly laughing his ass off at the spectacle that they made.

She found some pants and shorts and two cute skirts at another store. And spent almost _two_ hours browsing through some costume jewelry at Macy's and Belk. Nearly putting Bucky to sleep.

They did go by the book and furniture stores.

Clint managed to get Ichigo a work desk, a pretty antique looking vanity with a mirror and chair, and a couple of heavy wooden oak book shelves and even a lounge chair that she could sit in the far corner of the main room, close to the large windows and nap on whenever she wanted to be lazy later on in her pregnancy.

The girl had scoffed at the very idea of being lazy but hadn't said anything. So he took that as a good sign. He also got a more comfortable couch and living room set too.

She'd started to tell him that they didn't need the pieces, but he'd tugged her down next to him and had watched her carefully for a few moments and noted that she had gotten eerily quiet. Sort of like she got when she was on her own couch seconds before she drifted off.

He had all but grinned in triumph and handed over his credit card to the hovering salesman. After which they had all nearly spent another hour at the books store stocking up on baby books and stuff. While Ichigo wandered off and found some Hooked on Phonics stuff.

And when he'd asked why she was getting them, she had simply said that their baby was going to know stuff. Of course Clint didn't have the nerve to tell her just how right she was. She seemed so determined to get the educational stuff that he had just let her.

After they left there, she had found a baby store that she wanted to check out and had dragged the three men into. Not that Clint was complaining any. He was curious to know what she would find there.

And oh boy did she find some nice stuff.

Toys, bibs, onesies, little shirts and dresses and nighties, bottles, cribs, rockers- you name it, Ichigo found it. She decided to get some baby clothes now. Which again, Clint wasn't complaining about.

Even Steve and Bucky seemed to like checking the stuff out.

But the favorite items of Clint's that his girl managed to find was a little white and pastel yellow, pink, and purple dress with mint green butterflies on it. And a little purple shirt with Archer in Training printed across the front and a little red _A_ for the Avengers up at the top.

Clint had almost cried when she had handed it to him. Literally. And if not for the fact that he would have been teased mercilessly by his friends if he had- then he would have gone ahead and bawled his fucking eyes out.

So naturally he'd bought the 'little archer' shirt and the cute little dress and whatever else she handed to him. By the time that they had left, they probably had more baby stuff than absolutely necessary. But that was perfectly fine by him. He liked the fact that she wanted to be prepared.

After they left the baby store, Clint decided that it was time to drag her to a formal clothing shop to get her a couple of dresses so that he could take her out to some gala's and stuff that Tony had coming up. But once at the store, Ichigo took one look at the stuff and then promptly turned around and walked back out.

Growling in annoyance, Clint went after her and tossed his girl over his shoulder hissing and spitting like an angry cat and carried her back to the shop where Steve and Bucky were hanging out watching them curiously.

* * *

"I'm not coming out." Ichigo said stubbornly as she glared at her reflection in the changing room mirror. She _hated_ clothes shopping. Especially with other people, because things like this always seemed to happen.

Whenever she went clothes shopping with her friends, everyone got some insane notion to dress her up like a fucking doll. It was annoying. She didn't like it and she wasn't going to do it anymore! She didn't care if Clint was with her or not. This humiliation wasn't to be born.

"Yes you are." Came the chorus of three masculine voices. All of them sounded amused by her predicament. She wondered how amused they would feel if she ripped the stupid dress to shreds and walked out of the store butt fucking naked.

She was betting that they wouldn't be terribly amused then. Especially if they had to pick her up at the police station.

_Bastards. _She seethed as she heard Clint's voice from right outside of the dressing room.

"Baby, come on out and let us see how pretty you are."

"Go fuck yourself." She snapped automatically. She was not leaving this damned room without wearing what she walked into the store in. Unfortunately, her boyfriend had thought it amusing to steal her normal clothes so that she would have no choice but to_ try_ on the damnable torture device that she was currently wearing.

She didn't know which one of the three stooges had thought that this particular dress was something worthy of wearing out in public but she was about ready to tear someone a new asshole.

For fuck sake- her tits were barely covered and could fall out of the top at any moment! And the skirt barely covered her ass and crotch. She wasn't going _anywhere_ until she was suitably covered!

She kept glaring at her reflection as if trying to silently will the monstrosity of a dress to burst into flames and was so intent on trying to actually make it happen that she totally missed the lock on the door being picked until she saw Clint poke his head in and freeze up as his eyes locked on her.

She felt tears prickling her eyes and lowered her head to hide her face, not wanting him to see how humiliated that she felt as he inhaled sharply and quietly slipped into the small, cramped room behind her.

"Oh sweetheart." He said in an awed tone as he looked her over. The little black dress that Bucky had snuck into the couple of items that he'd picked out had been intended purely as a joke since it was little more than ribbons carefully arranged to partially cover the wearers body.

But damn him if he didn't love the way that it sexy little number clung to her curves just right.

She was embarrassed by the piece.

And he could sort of understand why given how much skin was showing. If there was anything that he'd learned about his girl right away, it was that she was a conservative when it came to clothing. She _hated_ showing too much skin. She considered outfits like the one that she was currently wearing to be slutty and whorish.

So he could only imagine what negative thoughts were racing through her pretty little head at the moment. And while she looked…._delicious_ in that little number- he would be having words with Bucky about his sorry sense of humor later on.

"Oh sweetheart..." He said again as he moved a little bit closer to her and lightly touched her bare shoulder, only to have her flinch. He started at the slight action and jerked his hand back and waited for a moment before trying to touch her again. His heart hurting because she had flinched from his hand.

Gently laying his hand on her shoulder again, he moved closer to her so that he could rest his forehead on her shoulder and simply said, "I'm sorry baby. This isn't one of the dresses that I picked out for you. You don't have to keep it on." He lifted his head just enough to press a kiss to her shoulder while reaching over to the other dresses and grabbed one of them.

A nice amethyst purple and black lace dress with a sweetheart neckline and a knee length flowing skirt, and quickly went about undoing the dress that she was wearing.

The piece fell to the floor where she kicked it away with as much violence as a woman could muster in such a small space and kept her head down, probably to continue glaring at it as he dressed her in the purple dress and then slowly zipped her up.

The moment that he was done, she lifted her head a little bit when she felt him wrap his arms around her middle and draw her back against his chest. "There. This one is much better. And you look far prettier in it." He was only lying a little bit since the image of her in that little black ribbon dress would forever be etched into his mind.

She looked damn good in this one too, he noted happily.

He smiled a little bit as he rested his chin on top of her head as he mused,_ My girl is wearing my color_. The possessive side of him was totally loving this. So much so that he was tempted to leave the dressing room and go search for some matching panties and bras to go with the dress. Hell he might even see if he could find some more dresses in his color.

This shade of purple looked really good with Ichigo's features.

"What do you think?" He asked curiously. Hoping that she liked the dress enough to want to get it since he'd love nothing more than to show up someplace with her on his arm, all dolled up and wearing his color.

She stared at her reflection for several heartbeats before slowly nodding her head and muttering, "It'll do." It wasn't exactly the type of response that he'd been hoping for. But given how much she seemed to hate stuff like this, he supposed that it was the best response that she'd give him.

"Alright. Let's get you out of this and-"

"I'm not trying on anything else," His hands froze at the middle of her back. "Just pick something else in this size and let's go. I...really hate things like this."

He stayed quiet for several heartbeats before softly saying. "I know. And I wouldn't have brought you here but...Tony has some formal events coming up in a month or so. I'd like you to have some dresses so that I can take you with me."

"Sounds like hours of endless torture." Ichigo huffed as she felt his hands start to move again. He hummed.

"It is. I always spend my time hanging out with Nat since she's sort of a wallflower like me."

"I'm surprised that you don't spend time at the bar drinking. There is drinking right?"

"There is. But I don't usually appreciate drunk women throwing themselves at me." He said wryly as he slipped a hand inside of the dress to help remove it from her shoulders.

"I've been to only _four_ formal events in my life," Ichigo said as she rolled her shoulders a little bit as he dragged the fabric down her arms. "I hated every moment of being around people who see me as a means to an end. Politicians, and such. I don't care for such things. But what made me really hate them, was when some of the higher up's that I used to work for decided to auction me off like an animal."

Clint felt his blood freeze in his veins as he let his eyes meet hers in the mirror.

"It was beyond embarrassing. They bought my clothing, had my hair and nails done. I looked like a doll. And when it was time for the auction- no one told me what was going on. I was just grabbed and dragged onto a stage where they shoved me into a chair and told me to stay put and keep my mouth shut."

He clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw started to ache as she reached up and ran her fingertips along his jaw in an petting motion. He supposed that it was her way of trying to calm or sooth him.

"The second that I found out what was going on- I got pissed. I decked the guy hosting the party and taking bids for me and then I turned my wrath on everyone else present. It didn't end well. And by the time everyone was dragged before the commander- everyone was going on and on about my duty."

"Apparently they thought that it was my duty to just let them do what they wanted and say or do nothing. Just grit my teeth and bear it. I had them all brought up on criminal charges for attempted enslavement, forced prostitution and a few other things like gross abuse of authority. Some are dead and others are still in prison. But I can't really go to any sort of party now without feeling like I did then."

He didn't know what to say, much less think aside from, "I'm sorry." And he was. Having something like that happen to her was probably very traumatic. _No wonder she was so reluctant to do some shopping_. She had probably known that she'd be dragged to a place like this one inevitably and had wanted to avoid it.

But why not just say something sooner? He wondered curiously.

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I sort of upset you earlier. And everything seemed to be going well... So I was okay with just leaving things alone." She said awkwardly as she fidgeted with her fingers.

He closed his eyes for a moment and just breathed. Trying to tamp down on the sudden surge of anger and rage burning through his blood before he slowly opened his eyes again and spun her around and pressed her bare back against the cold glass of the mirror and simply said.

"You don't go anywhere without me if there's a party. And if you don't want to go, then you don't have to. I don't care if we argue, or how pissed or hurt I am. You don't go unless you really want too."

"B-But the-" She started to say something about the dresses. But he stopped her by putting a finger against her lips and growling out.

"I'll get them, but you only wear them for _me_." He saw something akin to relief flit across her face and took a moment to kiss her forehead and then stepped back and told her that he'd get her clothes for her if she'd pick which dresses she would like. And then slipped out of the dressing room.

The moment that he was back out again, he caught both Steve and Bucky's eyes. The two were standing oddly still, their eyes were hard with anger and outrage and he took a shuddering breath to steel himself against the oncoming storm.

They'd heard.

Damn their super soldier senses. Clint thought darkly as he moved to the chair where he'd laid Ichigo's clothing after trapping her in the dressing room, and picked the items up. Pointedly ignoring their stares as he carried her clothing back to the dressing room and handed the items to her before slowly closing the door again and allowing her to relock it.

"Clint-" Steve started to say something but he cut him off.

Simply saying, "Not now."

Steve looked like he wanted to say something, but the door opened and Ichigo finally came out carrying the purple dress and a black and blue one.

"I'm ready to go." She said awkwardly. The smile that she wore was forced for their benefit. It made Clint angry enough to want to punch something.

"Alright, come on." He said gently as he absently took the dresses from her and slipped and then arm around her slender shoulders and guided her towards the register as Steve and Bucky silently fell into step behind them.

While Clint payed for the dresses, Ichigo was eyeing the two soldiers with a small frown on her face. Something was wrong. She could feel that they were upset. Angry even. But she didn't know why and it was starting to make her uncomfortable.

"Steve, Bucky, are you guys okay?" She finally asked.

Steve looked at her for a moment before slowly saying, "We're fine doll."

"Are you sure? If you guys are bored then we can cut the outing short and go back." She said, hoping that maybe that was what the problem was. However her suggestion just seemed to irk them more.

"That's alright. You still need some stuff." Bucky said automatically, as Clint walked over to join them and settled a hand on one of her shoulders.

"Sweetheart? You okay?"

"I-I'm fine." She muttered as he slipped his hand around the nape of her neck. "I think I'm done for the day."

"I guess going dress shopping sort of killed the mood huh." He said softly. Ichigo didn't say anything one way or the other. "Not really. I think I'm just tired."

Clint studied her for a moment before reluctantly nodding his head. "Yeah, okay. We'll head back then. Do you want to grab something to eat while we're out? We can swing by a burger place if you want."

"That sounds fine."

"Okay." Clint said as he pulled her a little bit closer to him and started walking.


	27. Chapter 27

On the way back to the tower, Clint went by a burger place as he had promised and bought Ichigo and himself and Steve and Bucky all something to eat. And true to her usual eating habits, Ichigo went through her food and put together little snacks for the three of them and handed one to Clint and then tried to hand the others to Steve and Bucky.

Bucky took his automatically knowing that it would upset her if he didn't. But Steve balked, not wanting to take food away from her when she needed it.

"It's okay Steve," Bucky said as he set his offered food aside for a moment before saying. "Just take it. She might cry if you don't."

Steve frowned and slowly took his napkin of food and noted the way that her face kind of lit up with something along the lines of, happiness? Or maybe it was pride? He blinked and the expression was gone and she was settled back down in her seat and started to eat her food.

After that the trip back to the tower was almost silent with the exception of the radio.

Bucky made a sour face at the music playing. While Clint laughed at Ichigo and teased her until she blushed for wanting to make all of them listen to radio Disney. She didn't care though, and once a song that she knew came on- started to sing along with it while Clint cracked up while Bucky cast Steve an amused glance and used his hand to sign,

**She isn't bad.**

Steve knew that Bucky wasn't talking about her singing. But was a little hard pressed not to be upset about the information of her military background being withheld from them. After all, that was something that they might have_ needed_ to know. And not being told about it could have put them in a bad situation if she had been an actual bad guy.

Not that either soldier believed that she was. Clint would have had her tossed somewhere whether she was carrying his baby or not if she had been.

No- she'd been nothing but sweet and courteous to everyone.

With the exception of the day that they had been trying to forcibly remove her from her home. And even though Bucky was still a little bit traumatized by that, he hadn't bothered to hold a grudge any since he totally understood that she had been right in her actions to defend herself.

Steve watched as Clint reached across the seat and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pull her over a bit so that he could kiss her cheek. He looked...happier than Steve had ever seen him before.

And Ichigo, despite how things had played out between the two in the beginning...she looked fairly happy too. She had the kind of smile that could light up a room and turn every head.

It was a thing of beauty. And a clear indication to both soldiers how far gone Clint was for her. Especially since they had noticed earlier during their outing that the man could hardly take his eyes off of her.

They just weren't sure if she realized how he felt about her or not just yet. But the fact that Clint wanted her safe. That he was _happy_ and_ wanted_ her and their baby. Spoke volumes as to the lengths the man would go to just keep them.

And that made Ichigo one of them.

_An adopted sister by default._ The second that the thought flitted through Steve's mind, he could barely suppress the grin that started to curve his lips as he absently signed back to Bucky, **I've never had a younger sister before.**

Bucky snorted at him and replied.

**I have. I needed an instruction manual back then, and will probably need one now. I'm not sure if you've noticed just yet, but our new baby sis is a little bit...weird.**

Steve cast his best friend a shit eating grin before signing.

**I think between the two of us, we can manage alright.**

Bucky nodded his head subtly and gave a determined/wicked looking smile.

**Damn straight. **

Steve signed, **Are we still...**

**Pissed at Clint for withholding information? **

**Yeah, that. **

They both looked back at the couple in the front seat and noted that Clint had reached across the seat again and was resting his hand on Ichigo's stomach while he was driving. They were such a damned cute couple.

And Steve didn't like the idea of anyone coming between them for any reason.

**No. We're not mad at Clint anymore. Just...**

**Disappointed? **

Steve nodded his head slightly, **A little. **

**Okay. **Was all that Bucky could think to sign back to him in response as he shifted a bit to make himself a little bit more comfortable in his seat and eyed the couple.

Ichigo was softly singing along with the radio and Clint was just listening to her. And probably planning to buy a crap load of Disney shit. Music, clothing, movies ect. Not that either soldier could blame him any.

If either of them had had a girl half as sweet as Ichigo having their kid, they'd have already bought all of the local Disney stores out.

Finally, they reached the tower and Clint decided to drop Ichigo off so that she could go ahead up to his living quarters and take a load off. She was reluctant to go and leave the three of them to carry everything, but the three of them told her to go and grab a nap or something.

She was in a delicate condition, and Clint obviously didn't want her doing anything that he even remotely considered _strenuous_. Which meant, no lifting anything. Period.

She was still reluctant to leave them alone to get everything but after several minutes of negotiating- which the soldiers found very funny- she finally scampered off once Clint told her that if she didn't go, he'd take her shopping again. She jumped out of the car so quickly that she practically kicked up a dust trail.

Letting out a low whistle, Steve slowly shook his head in disbelief and muttered. "I've never met a woman that _hated_ shopping so much."

"That's the same thing that I said." Clint said wryly as he climbed out of the car and walked around to the back to unlock it. Bucky chortled as he climbed out of the vehicle. He couldn't help himself. That had just been _great_.

Ichigo was one hell of an amusing dame.

Once the back of the vehicle was open, Clint started grabbing things and waiting for the inevitable. He knew that despite how the two were acting now, there was no way that either of them had forgotten about earlier and likely had a lot of questions. As it was, he wasn't sure how he was going to answer them since even he didn't _know_ everything.

"Clint..." Steve started, deciding that now was a good time to broach the subject of Ichigo's former work. "I know that you probably have your reasons, and Bucky and I get that but-"

"But I should have said something. I know." Clint said as he stood back and let the two men grab some of the items from the car. "And I didn't withhold the information." Steve and Bucky both paused to look at him for a moment. "Tony's looked into her. Nat and Thor were present the day that I found out about her military background. So I didn't withhold anything. I just..." He paused for a moment to think before going on to say.

"She doesn't _like_ talking about it. She likes talking about the friends that she made back then. But not her military career. And if most of her stories about back then are anything like what she told me at the dress shop- then I don't want to ask her anything that can bring something harmful to her, up. I simply can't afford too."

"We understand that," Steve said carefully, thinking of how recalling too many bad things akin to what he had Bucky had overheard back at the dress shop would negatively impact her physical and mental health. "We won't ask much about it. Just what you would be willing to tell us."

"She was recruited when she was thirteen." Clint said after taking a deep breath. He'd decided that the best way to handle this was to rip off the band-aid and give the two the information that they wanted. His mind shifting and sorting through the various things that he knew about her already. Carefully picking and choosing what he told the two since she still didn't want anyone to know about her abilities.

And the lack of information on them could prove useful later on if she needed to protect herself. Especially if someone tampered with any of their minds somehow.

Steve and Bucky stood there with mirroring expressions of disbelief on their faces.

"The people that she caught the attention of operated like a rogue military unit. They worked both inside and outside of the law. She's never said anything about that, but from the way that they ran things...it's really all that I can assume. I do know that they were something akin to Shield." That sort of snapped the two men out of it. "They protected people. And sometimes had to do really bad things for the greater good. Ichigo was assigned to a unit of superhumans. We've already met some of them."

"The blond guy and the others that came to the tower. They're part of her unit?"

"They're superhumans?" Bucky asked with a small frown.

"Yeah. She went head to head and fought a guy that probably worse that Loki. When she was fourteen. The guy was mad, Steve. Just absolutely fucking insane. She still has nightmares about him. About the people that he killed and the lives that he ruined."

"She fought someone actually like Loki?" Steve asked, his tone angry.

"She didn't have a choice. She was the only one that could." Clint said hollowly.

"Fuck that Clint. She was_ fourteen_! She shouldn't have been fighting at all. And how the hell was she supposed to fight him and win? She isn't a superhuman!" Steve gritted out. His expression murderous.

"I know. And I think and wonder the same things. But...all of that crap took place years ago Steve. _Before_ the Avengers ever formed. They didn't have _anyone_ else to fight and stop him. He was...mad and for some reason they thought that she could actually take him."

"And that's supposed to make it okay?!" Steve damn near shouted at him.

"And her unit? Where the hell were they? They _were_ there right?" Bucky asked, his tone dangerously calm despite the obvious venom lacing his voice.

"I think they were trying to minimalize the civilian losses. Evacuating the people and stuff." Clint said. Not wanting to say anything about his theory about how a majority of the assholes had just _left_ her to fight and ran.

"Would Fury have information on the guy?" Steve suddenly demanded, wanting to read up on the son of a bitch that a child had been sent to fight. His mind already going over the many, many,_ many_ various ways that he and Bucky would pick the son of a bitch apart.

Clint shrugged his shoulders. To be perfectly honest his former boss probably had a lot of info about Aizen and every incident that he had been traced in. He probably had info on Ichigo too. But he wasn't interested in asking for any of it. It was in the past. Over and done with. It had no place in Ichigo's future.

And he wasn't such a bastard that he would dig any of it up just to sate his own sense of curiosity.

"Doesn't natter if he does or not. Ichigo told me that he was executed for his crimes."

"The military doesn't execute people."

"Rogue ones do. Especially if they're trying to cover their asses." Clint said. There was no flaw in his logic. And that alarmed the two soldiers a great deal.

* * *

Tony ambushed Ichigo the moment that she stepped into the elevator. With no one to go or escape too, she was both literally and figuratively at his mercy.

Which was funny since he hadn't actually meant to ambush her like this. He'd meant to grab her something nice from the café in the lobby first. He'd heard that she was a real sucker for hot chocolate, so maybe some of that with a muffin would have worked?

But whatever. This worked too he supposed as he tried hard not to laugh at her. But it was really, really hard. The second that the elevator door had closed she had practically run herself into it trying to get out of the thing.

"Are you okay?"

She was rubbing her nose and looking like she was just a second away from crying. Not that he could blame her any. She'd hit the elevator door pretty damn hard in her...comically insane attempt at fleeing from him.

"I'm fine." She said after a moment or so as he stepped a little bit closer to her and reached out to take her face in his hands, but she jerked her head away from him. Her eyes going wide in alarm.

"Hey, no. It's okay. I just want to make sure that you didn't break your face or anything. Clint would kill me if you did and it was my fault." He explained knowing that ever little word was true. Clint would kill him if she broke her face and it was all his fault.

It was just how the birdbrain was wired.

Once he had something that he really, _really_ wanted in his grasp- he'd lie, cheat, steal, and _kill_ just to keep it. Because apparently there was a lot of fucking grey area to maneuver around in.

Which was just one reason why it was best to avoid the man's wrath.

Carefully taking hold of her chin, he lightly smacked her hands away so that he could check her nose. It was a little bit red but at least it wasn't broken. She'd hit the door pretty hard, so he had been worried about that. But at least it wasn't damaged.

Which was good since it meant that Clint might only decide to use him for target practice _once_. Instead of a few dozen times. The pin cushion look wasn't his sort of look.

"It isn't broken, so that's good. What about your head? Feeling dizzy or anything?"

"No."

"That's great." He said with a small smile as he let go of her chin and moved back a little bit before finally saying, "I'd been meaning to come by and check up on you, but I've been working double time re writing some safety protocols and stuff to include you and the baby... How are you doing? Are you enjoying you're stay so far?"

"I'm fine," She said again. Wondering why he kept asking her that. Her nose wasn't broken and she wasn't concussed. She _was_ fine. "I'm not used to so much space." She said with a slight shrug.

"Of all the things to complain about- I've never heard anyone of the female persuasion complain about the size of their living quarters." He said in an amused tone. "I saw you when Thor carried you in the other day. You looked like a mess."

_Ah, that would explain the question about how I am doing._ She thought to herself as she awkwardly rubbed at the nape of her neck.

"What happened anyways? You...looked really bad."

"Clint and I got into a fight. I kicked him out of my home. I tried to eat something but I felt bad and I got sick so I just didn't eat. Or drink, or sleep, or move."

He gave her a weird look.

"Let me get this straight," He said as he held up a hand. "You and Clint fought, you kicked him out, you felt bad about it and then got sick so you just- _what?_ Stopped functioning? You hurt yourself and your baby because you felt bad?"

"What? No! I wasn't trying to hurt anything! Much less my baby!"

"Okay, then what were you doing?"

"I was trying to get the nausea to go away! I can't throw up if there's nothing to throw up, you know. And I didn't know what to do when it didn't stop. I can't take non-baby friendly meds and I don't know a lot of baby friendly stuff and I wanted to call Clint and see if he knew something- but he pissed me off with his kidnapping attempt!"

Tony was quiet for several second before slowly asking, "He...tried to kidnap you?"

"Yes. And Forcibly remove me from my home, to here."

"W-Was that the same day that Steve and Bucky left with Nat in a U-haul truck?"

"Probably," She said with a shrug before then tacking on with a small frown, "Unless they make a habit of kidnapping girls."

Tony snorted at the very idea before then quickly making a mental note to _check_ the tower, just in case. After all, if the idiots would try once, it was only a matter of time before some random place was converted to a dungeon of sorts. And he didn't want to be left unaware of anything, just in case it did happen.

There was such a thing as plausible deniability.

And he intended to use it if the morons got themselves into legal trouble.

"I'll check the tower just to be safe. And if I find anyone, I'll set them free." He promised her. She gave him a somber nod before he then asked, "Aside from the kidnapping attempt and stuff, are you okay? I mean, do you want or need anything for yourself or the baby to help you feel more comfortable?"

"To never go shopping again." She said in a slightly desperate/pleading tone with a slight cringe. Tony just stared at her strangely for a moment, opened his mouth to ask her why, but then shut his mouth again for a moment before saying.

"I'll...do something...to keep you from ever having to shop again?"

"God bless you, man." Ichigo said as she reached out and laid a hand on his arm and looked at him as if he'd just hung the moon or something. The elevator finally stopped and she stepped off of it with a polite goodbye and a wave. Leaving him shaking his head and wondering what the hell had just happened.


	28. Chapter 28

**This is a filler chap, so it's short.**

* * *

Several weeks passed since the shopping trip, and things had been fairly calm since then aside from Clint trying to figure out where to put a nursery for the baby, and maybe have a 'she cave' for Ichigo made since he tended to distract her quite a bit whenever she tried to work at her desk.

And he wasn't going to lie- he'd absolutely _loved_ breaking the piece of furniture in.

Especially when Ichigo had been wearing one of her new skirts, had her hair up off of her nape, and had been wearing some reading glasses that he hadn't known that she had/needed.

His girl had looked like a sexy librarian.

So much so that he'd done a couple of curious passes around her and her desk. Checking her out from every angle that he could, snapping a few pics of her hard at work at her laptop. Her pretty face screwed up a tad in concentration.

And then...well, he'd done what any guy with adolescent fantasies of fucking a pretty librarian would have done. He'd pounced on her so quickly that he'd accidentally damaged her work computer.

I mean, he'd still managed to break in the desk.

But he'd gotten fussed at afterwards which hadn't been very much fun at all. Especially since she'd been so mad at him that he'd had to go out and get her a new computer, simply thanking his lucky stars that she had at least had the foresight of mind to _know_ enough about him to save as much of her data as humanly possible beforehand.

It might not have saved all of her current work. But it had saved enough of it that she didn't have to start completely over again. And that made him happy because it meant that she forgave him that much faster.

Another thing that had happened, was she had started to suffer from some seriously vicious bouts of morning sickness.

He'd woken up a few times to find her missing from their bed only locate her puking up her guts in the bathroom. Which was...well, to a weird guy like him- _awesome_. Not so much that she was throwing up. That was gross.

No what he found awesome was the fact that the morning sickness meant that their baby was really there. Safe and sound and growing inside of her.

He'd been so gleeful that he'd made the mistake of letting it show on his face. Which had earned him a savage punch to the stomach which had led to him puking for a while too.

Needless to say, he was far more sympathetic towards Ichigo's suffering now. Especially since every time he found/saw/heard her becoming sick- his stomach cramped up really badly and he felt like puking himself. Which made taking care of her a little bit tricky from his end, but he somehow managed thanks entirely to the baby books that the two of them had been buying up here and there.

The baby books had a wealth of information in them that made things _so_ much easier on them both. The advice contained within them were just wonderful.

Clint got to take care of Ichigo like he wanted, and spoil her whenever he could. And Ichigo...didn't put up as much as a fuss as before and simply let him do what he wanted most of the time.

They'd also celebrated their one month anniversary as a couple.

Which had surprised the hell out of him since he hadn't known that Ichigo was the kind of girl to do things like that. But man, oh man he'd loved every second of it.

His girl had been sly about it too. Pretending to need something and had sent him out on a wild goose chase that had taken him hours before he had decided to return home to give her a piece of his mind for her joke.

His mouth had just stopped working though once he walked back into his quarters to find a candle lit dinner, and Ichigo standing there all dolled up and wearing the purple dress that he'd bought for her. Her hair had been lightened from it's normal hue to a soft rose gold color, and had been trimmed and styled so that it was piled up on top of her head in pretty curls.

Everything had been perfect. _She_ had been perfect.

And he'd fallen in love with her a little bit more.

The second month of Ichigo's pregnancy proved to be just as wonderful as the first. Clint was totally head over heels for her and their baby, and was constantly talking about all kinds of plans for the future and his family.

The Avengers had been called on a time or two for small jobs here and there.

Nothing too terrible since they had all returned after each of those missions in fair condition. With the exception of a few serious scrapes, bruises, and maybe a broken bone here or there.

And Ichigo had taken up the habit of waiting for him outside of the stairwell door for convenience sake. After all, she welcomed him home with some mind blowing stuff that even _he_ blushed at the mention of once she managed to grab him and drag him away.

Another thing that the two had noticed is that Ichigo's stomach was changing. She'd scared the hell out of him one day when he'd been relaxing on the couch by letting out an ear splitting shriek that had had him up on his feet and running in an instant.

He'd found her in the bathroom with her shirt pulled up a tad so that she could see her stomach and while his heart had been trying to leap right out of his chest in fear, she had turned to him with the biggest, craziest most excited grin that he'd ever seen. And had pointed down at it and jumped around in place for a moment as his eyes had slowly drifted over her form before settling on the small, barely noticeable little bump forming where her normally flat stomach was.

His mouth had gone dry and his eyes had flickered to her face almost nervously as he'd reached out and slowly let his fingertips ghost over the small bump, before settling his hand over it.

Feeling the way that his palm curved a little bit over the spot where their baby rested.

He'd stayed like that for several heartbeats, just marveling over the tiny miracle that he'd helped to create before he'd snatched her up in his arms and run to the bedroom. His mind was totally in the gutter now and his libido was suddenly working overtime.

He fully intended to worship his girl to fully show his appreciation of her newest development.

He'd been so intent on lavishing her with attention that he'd totally forgotten to be miffed at her for scaring him nearly shitless.


	29. Chapter 29

A week after the discovery of Ichigo's baby bump, Clint snuck out of bed bright and early while she slept and texted Nat to see if she could occupy his girl for the day, and maybe help her get ready for the gala later that evening while he ran out to do something very important.

Luckily for him, Nat wasn't the kind of person to ask many questions. She might have tons of them, but she wouldn't necessarily ask them. Which worked in his favor quite a bit.

All he had to do then was wait half an hour for her to show up before he could leave to take care of his self appointed task. Stepped off of the elevator downstairs, he was met by Steve who had already figured out what he was up too and had volunteered to go with him to 'help' him.

"Ready to get started?" The soldier asked with a huge grin that looked sort of freaky to Clint. The man was so damned giddy that one would think that the task he was going to complete was Steve's instead of his own.

It kind of made him want to slug him. Really it did.

No man that didn't have a girl of his own should look that damned _happy_ to be going ring hunting. It was like, blasphemous or something. Especially since it wasn't even Steve's girl that they were ring hunting for.

"Yup," Clint said as he easily fell into step beside the man. "I already know where we're looking first and everything."

Steve chuckled. "You've already got things planned out huh." He seemed amused by the fact that Clint had planned everything about where to look as well as what he was looking for. He'd researched everything. Stone colors, cuts, clarity, the band styles...ect.

He knew that he wanted a white gold band that was a size six in a half. It had to have either a half carat of diamonds or a full carat. He was open to options as far as other gems went. But he wanted something either white and as flawless as possible. Or something in blue or purple.

Sapphires or tanzanite. He didn't care which as long as it helped him to show her the depth of his admiration for her and left her breathless too.

"Alright, where are we going?" Steve asked curiously.

"There's an old antique jewelry shop that has a bunch of really nice and classical jewelry in it a few blocks over. I'd like to stop by there and see if I can find Ichigo's ring there. And if all else fails maybe I can get her some pearl earrings and a matching necklace for later tonight?" Clint said with a slight shrug.

Steve made a thoughtful humming sound knowing that Clint had put a lot of thought into this endeavor. "Okay. So what do you need me to do?" He asked curiously.

"I need you to help me figure out if something is too big and gaudy looking. I have no eye for tasteful stuff."

"Okay, I can do that." Steve said with another chuckle knowing that Clint was being totally honest. If he was left alone to do this particular task- he'd likely wind up buying something half the size of a baseball and totally terrible looking. Ichigo was far more to injure herself just trying to wear it.

If she didn't decide to chuck it at Clint's head first.

And that was a scary thought since the men had found out early on in her stay that the girl had a more than _lethal_ aim. Thor had done something to irritate her and she'd nearly- nearly, meaning that she'd missed him by a hairs breath- brained the poor man with a coffee pot.

Thor had run and hid himself, and Tony had practically_ cried_ at the horror of losing his coffee pot.

* * *

Ichigo didn't know what had possessed her to come shuffling out of the bedroom and kiss the person setting breakfast out. Maybe it was because she was still technically asleep or maybe it was because it was sort of a habit for her now to greet Clint that way whenever she woke up.

Either way, she should have realized that the person that she was kissing wasn't her boyfriend. The shockingly vivid red, shoulder length hair should have been a dead give away.

So should have been the fact that the person was a little bit shorter than Clint. But she really hadn't been paying attention and now she was being stared at by the red haired woman as if she were crazy.

"I am so sorry." Was all that she could think to say. Because she was. She was sorry that she hadn't been paying attention and had obviously shocked the poor woman. "I-I should have been paying better attention and-"

"Is that how you greet Clint in the morning?" The woman asked. Ichigo snapped her mouth shut and slowly nodded her head, her stomach churning with dread. "Then it's fine," She said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You were still half asleep anyways. So no harm, no foul."

"O-Oh.." Ichigo stammered out, not knowing what else could be said about her blunder.

"Come and sit down," Nat said as she motioned with her hand to one of the chairs at the table. "I just finished making us breakfast and thought that we could use this time for some girl to girl bonding."

"Uhhh…. O-Okay." Ichigo muttered as she slowly, and cautiously- much to Nat's amusement- made her way to one of the chairs and seated herself in it and nearly jumped out of her skin when Nat pulled up the chair closest to her and sat down in it and laughed at her reaction to her being so close to her.

She knew that the two of them hadn't really spoken to each other much less really spent any time together, but the poor girl shouldn't be so jumpy or nervous around her.

It was amusing before, but now it- it was just hurtful. Though she very much doubted that Ichigo meant to hurt her feelings any. From what little bit she knew of the girl, she was nothing but thoughtful.

"Please, try to stop being so nervous. I'm not here to hurt you."

"I-I know. I mean, I'm not trying to be-"

"I know that little one. But it bothers me all the same." Nat said gently as Ichigo looked as if she'd just been slapped and dropped her eyes to the table before muttering a soft apology as Nat just sat there for several moments studying her before she reached out and picked up her plate and then filled it with an veggie omelet, bacon, some fruit and a few bite sized honey cakes and then set it back down in front of her.

"Here, you should try to eat something while you can. Clint has told me that your morning sickness is really bad on an empty stomach."

"Oh, thanks." Ichigo said as she finally peeked at her from underneath her long bangs as Nat fixed her own plate of food. It didn't go unnoticed to the red head that Ichigo seemed to favor the honey cakes on her plate since they were the first thing to go. Followed by the fruit and some of the bacon and omelet.

* * *

"Hey, how about this one?" Clint called out to Steve who had been looking at some rose gold jewelry a few feet away. The man lifted his head and glanced over at Clint just in time to see the man practically dancing around in place with a huge smile on his face.

Huffing softly, the soldier moved closer to him to see what he'd found this time since he'd already nixed several things already. Peering over Clint's shoulder, Steve couldn't help the smile that curved his lips.

It would seem that Clint had really found something good this time.

The item in question was a platinum ring. With at least half carat oval deep blue/violet tanzanite surrounded by a halo of fine, shockingly clear white diamonds.

It was stunning. And exquisite and classy all at the same time.

"I think we found Ichigo's ring."


End file.
